Will Steyer help de León unseat Feinstein?
Billionaire’s backing could help him raise campaign money
California state Sen. Kevin de León's uphill intraparty bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has received a big boost with an endorsement from billionaire Democrat activist Tom Steyer.
But how much of a boost, political experts say, will depend on how much Steyer is willing to spend on a challenger to the popular and well-funded Democratic incumbent.
The San Franciscobased hedge fund manager-turned-liberal activist burst onto the national political scene with his $10 million campaign calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. But on Wednesday his staff wouldn't say how he plans to throw his financial backing behind unseating California's senior senator.
David McCuan, a political science professor at
Sonoma State University, said Steyer's endorsement doesn't necessarily make it a real race for Senate, but allows de León to “chug along” as Feinstein's chief rival.
“It doesn't change the fundamental challenges he still has, which is running from behind,” McCuan said. “If Steyer is able to channel money, progressive dollars, that can give de León a lift. But so far what we're seeing is a lackluster campaign and fundraising.”
Feinstein had no comment Wednesday.
Steyer said Wednesday he has “known Sen. de León for years and have fought alongside him on immigrant rights, expanding health care, and climate change.”
“Our work together on behalf of all Californians has assured me that he would be the champion of California's priorities and values,” Steyer said. “Kevin de León has proven himself to be the best of the next generation, and I am proud to support him for U.S. Senate.”
De León said that he and Steyer “came together over our shared values” and are “united by a desire to grow California's economy by cleaning up our environment and creating good-paying jobs at the same time.”
“He is a good friend, a man of incredible integrity, and he doesn't back down from a fight,” de León said.
Steyer, 60, who considered running against Feinstein himself, was coy when asked last week about endorsing de León.
“In normal times, we try to avoid D on D races,” Steyer recently said. “But this year, we are rethinking that to ask, are there places where it's incumbent on us to support somebody who's standing up for the hard choices?”
Feinstein, one of the Senate's wealthiest members, has lent $5 million to her re-election campaign, leaving her with more than $10.3 million in cash, according to the Federal Elections Commission. De León started the year with less than $360,000 cash in his campaign fund, according to the FEC.
A Public Policy Institute of California poll in February found Feinstein ahead of de León, with 46 percent to 17 percent and 33 percent undecided. She led de León by 48 points among Democrats, suggesting his campaign had yet to gain traction.
Under California's “top two” primary system adopted by voters in 2010, pitched as a means to boost moderate candidates over extreme partisans with little mainstream appeal, the two candidates who receive the most votes advance to a November runoff, even if they are of the same party. No major Republican has jumped into the race.
Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College, said Steyer's endorsement “itself doesn't make a difference, but it could make difference if he follows up with a significant independent expenditure.”
“It gives him an outside chance,” Pitney said. “He still needs some breaks. He needs an issue that energizes progressive Democrats to vote for him instead of Feinstein. So far Dianne Feinstein has done a good job of positioning herself in the center of the party. But a big independent expenditure enables him to fight another day.”
Feinstein, 84 and seeking her fifth full term, has maintained broad appeal while championing liberal causes such as gun control and wilderness conservation.
But Steyer and other liberal Democrats have been frustrated with her reluctance to sharply criticize Trump. Last August, Feinstein called for “patience” with Trump and suggested he could “be a good president.”
In February, Democrats failed to endorse the longtime incumbent at the party convention.
Steyer voiced his criticism of Feinstein in a letter to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee a day after Feinstein announced her re-election bid, arguing that “Donald Trump is not fit for office” and “this is not a time for ‘patience.'”