Democratic presidential candidate and billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer lamented Wednesday that people keep calling him “rich.”

“Now you know, I know everybody always describes me as being rich. That is not how I see myself,” the Farallon Capital founder told a small gathering at a bookstore in San Francisco, The New York Times reported.

“But I can tell you this, the one thing it does give me is the right to say nobody owns me,” he said. “I mean I will do exactly what I think is right.”

Mr. Steyer said he plans to dump $100 million of his own money into his campaign and that fighting inequality will be one of his top priorities, but some attendees seemed skeptical.

“I would love to see him take the $100 million he’s spending on his campaign and plow that into progressive causes rather than running for president even though that might be more high-profile,” Jonathan Lack told The New York Times.

“I’d heard of him before just because he’s a random billionaire,” added Henry Grunzweig. “I guess I’m curious how an old white man billionaire is going to beat an old white man billionaire.”

The New York Times noted the unenthusiastic crowd at Wednesday night’s event, where “many yawned” and one person “looked to be asleep on the sofa.”



The long-shot candidate is currently polling at 0.5% nationally among nearly two dozen other candidates.

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