WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Tom Steyer failed to make a splash in his first Democratic presidential primary debate despite spending the equivalent of $109,000 per second he spoke on the stage.
The 62-year-old billionaire hedge fund king-turned-impeachment activist had the least amount of speaking time of the 12 candidates during Tuesday’s debate, about 7 minutes, while most other candidates got 12 minutes or more to answer moderator questions and make their points.
Steyer, who has pledged to spend $100 million of his own money on his presidential bid, gave his campaign a whopping $47.6 million from his July launch through the end of September and raised slightly over $2 million from other individuals. The campaign spent $47 million on operating expenses, more than twice what top third-quarter fundraiser Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders spent: $21.3 million of the $25.2 million he raised.
“I just want to start by reminding everybody that every candidate here is more decent, more coherent, and more patriotic than the criminal in the White House,” Steyer said during his first comments of the night, a clear planned applause line. After an awkward pause, the audience politely clapped.
Much of the conversation about Steyer’s debate performance on social media consisted of jokes about his tie selection — a red plaid design that evoked comparisons to Scotch tape brand’s distinctive plaid packaging.
who helped steyer pick a tie? pic.twitter.com/vSDb2IkXEh
— Abby Vesoulis (@abbyvesoulis) October 16, 2019
“When it’s your first debate performance, the last thing you would want people ever to do is focus on something like that, kind of a physical appearance thing that some could find distracting,” University of Michigan debate coach Aaron Kall told the Washington Examiner. “You want to be the focus on the substance.”
Steyer entered the Democratic presidential race later than every other candidate and has much lower name recognition than most others. But despite those challenges, Steyer secured his spot on the debate stage in part by spending millions of dollars on television and digital ads and utilizing voter contact information from activist groups that he founded, Need to Impeach and climate group NextGen America.
Facebook and other advertising data previously showed that Steyer’s campaign had spent around $10 million on ads before qualifying for the October debate, but Steyer’s Federal Elections Commission filing revealed the full extent of his massive spending.
Those on Steyer’s team argue that the ads keep him competitive and that other candidates reap benefits from earned media mentions. His campaign also points to polling progress in early voting states: Morning Consult found this week that he is in fourth place with 8% among voters Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, or Nevada, though he is at 1% nationally.
The large investment brought little benefit on the national stage. Steyer’s $47.6 million amounted to about $109,000 per second he spoke on the stage.
Steyer did have some bright spots in his first debate performance. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar highlighted his commitment to a progressive tax code. “Not even the billionaire wants to protect billionaires,” she said.
“He benefited because a lot of the debate discussion was about impeachment,” Kall said. “But I thought that he could have better contrasted himself with the president because they do share a lot of similarities, you know, talking about why maybe he would give the president maybe the toughest time on a general election debate stage, because they’re both billionaires.”
Steyer will get another chance to make his case on a national stage. He has qualified for the November debate, which will likely have fewer candidates.
