Tom Steyer may receive a boost the week before the opening Iowa caucuses as one of only a few top candidates slated to make their closing arguments to Democrats in the state before next weekend.
Steyer, 62, will embark on a “Beat Trump” bus tour starting Monday, remaining in the first-in-the-nation state until the caucuses on Feb. 3.
“The way that I think about this race is it’s a state-by-state election. We’re focused on the four early primary states, which are Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. There was a poll out earlier this week basically saying that in those states, I’m at an average of 15% and in third place. So, it’s actually been going really well,” he told Fox News on Friday.
With many of the senators running for the White House tied up in Washington for President Trump’s impeachment trial, the billionaire hedge fund manager and environmentalist, who poured millions of dollars into lobbying lawmakers to forcibly remove Trump for office, may benefit from their suddenly busy schedules. The other billionaire seeking the Oval Office, Michael Bloomberg, is also parlaying impeachment with a new ad, though the former New York City mayor isn’t contesting Iowa.
While his rivals for the 2020 nomination may add events, he, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 38, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, 59, are the only contenders who qualified for this month’s Iowa debate who will be canvassing voters over multiple days next week. Former Vice President Joe Biden, 77, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang, 45, will be in the state on Monday. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 70, will join them next Friday.
Warren downplayed the effect of impeachment on her bid Friday, citing her constitutional duty to sit in on the proceedings and how “some things are more important than politics.”
“So now, here I am, pinned down in Washington with the impeachment trial. And what’s happened is this grassroots movement on its own is saying, ‘We’ll be in the fight for you,’” she told CBS News of her supporters. “In other words, democracy itself is raising its head in Iowa and across the nation. And it’s very exciting to see.”
Impeachment is causing havoc for White House hopefuls, such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 78, who admitted he’d prefer to be campaigning. Sanders ambitiously put a rally at the University of Northern Iowa on his agenda this week, chartering a private jet so he could attend, but canceled it after the trial’s timetable crystallized. Similarly, CNN’s slew of town halls with the field were postponed. Meanwhile, Klobuchar’s team got creative, holding a tele-town hall.
Despite the advantage, Steyer is still a long-shot in Iowa. He averages 3.3% support in the state, according to RealClearPolitics data, well below the 15% threshold needed to earn delegates for the nomination.
