Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer said there is “no question” his super PAC is having an effect on the midterm and gubernatorial races in which it is playing.
“I don’t think there is any question to that,” the ex-hedge fund manager told reporters Sunday in New York at the People’s Climate March, an event that’s drawn thousands to the city calling for action on climate change.
Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action PAC has entered into Senate races in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan and New Hampshire and gubernatorial contests in Florida, Pennsylvania and Maine to boost Democratic candidates’ chances.
Many of those races are tight, Steyer acknowledged.
“Elections are never over until they’re over,” he said. “There are a lot of close elections in the United States right now.”
While Steyer and others in the environmental community have said spending on climate has elevated the issue this cycle, it’s still polling as a low priority for most voters.
Steyer’s group embodies some of that. Its main goal is to put candidates who support climate change policies in office, but it’s hit GOP candidates and incumbents on a number of issues outside the climate sphere.
Climate change is, however, polling better among Democrats. And in a midterm cycle where turning out voters might make all the difference in some races, environmental groups — including NextGen — have turned to their ground game to get people to the polls.
Steyer said the rally Sunday, which comes on the eve of a United Nations climate summit, was emblematic of the growing profile of climate change as a national issue.
“I think the point of this is to show it had widespread political support. That it is a first-tier issue. That the ability to sweep this under the rug is over,” Steyer said.
