Exclusive: Tom Steyer Warns California Leaders Fed by ‘Corporate Interests'

Tom Steyer is a billionaire investor‑turned‑progressive activist who is seeking elected office after years of funding political causes from the sidelines. The former hedge fund executive, who built his fortune at Farallon Capital before pivoting to climate advocacy and Democratic politics, is running in the crowded 2026 race for California governor to succeed term‑limited Governor Gavin Newsom.

The field is dominated by Democrats but spans a range of ideological wings, along with some Republican contenders. Among Democrats, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra represents a more traditional party establishment lane, while former Representative Katie Porter is running as a policy‑driven, anti‑corporate progressive known for her focus on consumer protection and oversight. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is widely viewed as a more centrist figure. Steyer, by contrast, is positioning himself as an outsider running on a populist progressive message, emphasizing climate policy and economic inequality while leveraging his personal wealth to finance an aggressive campaign.

Republicans in the race include Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Fox News host Steve Hilton, who represent more traditional conservative and populist outsider wings of the party, respectively. Both face an uphill climb in a heavily Democratic state, though California's top‑two primary system can create openings in a fragmented field. President Donald Trump endorsed Hilton last month.

Newsweek asked Steyer a few questions about the race on Friday, ahead of the primary on Tuesday.

You’ve been involved with California politics for years, and you know folks in this state. Why do you think the establishment is going so hard against you instead of seeing you as someone they could work with?

I’m taking on the corporate special interests, and the corporate special interests [are] what feeds the establishment and pays their bills. So, of course they’re against me, because they see me as representing working people who don’t pay their bills and going against corporate special interests who do pay their bills, and that’s a very frightening prospect for them.

Has it changed your relationship with people in this state? Before, I’m sure they would want you to donate to certain causes and things like that.

I try to have an honest conversation and an honest relationship with everybody, and I think…they’re acting in their self-interest, and I think that’s too bad. Because I think this is very clearly a race about, do we want change or status quo? Do we want to work for working people or corporations? Who is supposed to be in charge of this state, the people or the richest people and the corporations? And to me that’s such a no-brainer. That’s the question for Californians. And, fortunately, corporations don’t get to vote.

At your rally yesterday, you alluded to the fact that you’d approach this job as full force, not planning for future ambitions, per se. So, given that, how would you, if in that role, work to kind of build up the progressive bench in this state?

I think one of the things that’s happened in this campaign is I’ve met and been endorsed by and gotten to know better a bunch of progressive leaders in this state, and there’s a very impressive group of people…People think California is so blue, but the truth is, the power in this state has not been with progressives, and I’m very supportive of the people who are leading that charge and who’ve been standing with me, and who I want to stand with, because I think they are representing the people of California. And look, we’re at a place where California is not affordable. If you go around this state, you see people who’ve been fully employed for 20 years who are living in their cars, and you see people who give up their healthcare so they can make rent, who are fully employed, and you see it’s not okay. So the idea that everything’s hunky dory seems to me to be entirely untrue. And Californians are desperate for the richest state in the world to be a place where they can afford to live, because it doesn’t work without them, and what’s been happening is an increasing vice, you know, squeezing them between all the outrageous costs that confront them and their families.

To make a parallel to New York, it seems like California has its AOC [Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] in Congress with Ro Khanna, but in the state government, it doesn’t seem there's a figure like [New York City Mayor] Zohran Mamdani, someone who's grabbed national attention. Why do you think that is in California?

I’ve been very surprised. I thought everybody would be competing in this race to do a better job for working Californians in trying to explain how that can work and what we’re going to change…and that’s entirely untrue. I mean the other leading Democratic contenders [are] taking money from every single one of these special interest corporations and has said basically, I don’t want to change anything. It’s like, you’re kidding. I’m surprised. But that’s where we are, and we’ll see how it turns out.

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This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 5:17 PM.