- Tom Steyer entered the race in July.
- Steyer planned on spending $100 million of his own money for his election bid.
- Some Democratic candidates are not happy with Steyer entering the race.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Tom Steyer reached the 130,000 donor threshold on Tuesday for the third Democratic debates.
There are two separate requirements that are needed to make it to the fall Democratic debates. A candidate needs to be polling at two percent in polls approved by the DNC. The second requirement is that a candidate needs to have 130,000 individual donors. Steyer has now reached the donor threshold for the fall debates.
The reason why the DNC wants candidates to reach a donor goal is to prove that they have a grass-roots campaign. This was likely inspired by Sen. Bernie Sander’s 2016 Presidential campaign. But Steyer did not exactly reach this requirement through grass-roots means.
Complaints From Other Candidates
Steyer is a former hedge-fund manager which helped make him a billionaire. Stayer said that he would use $100 million of his own money to run for president. Of that money, he spent about $2.9 million on Facebook ads. He also bought many TV ads to raise awareness of his campaign. Due to this, Governor Steve Bullock is accusing Steyer of using his money to buy his way in the debate stage.
“We’re kidding ourselves if we’re calling a $10 million purchase of 130,000 donors a demonstration of grassroots support. It’s not serving the candidates, and it sure isn’t helping the voters who will actually decide this election,” said Bullock.
Gov. Bullock is not the only Democratic candidate that has issues with Steyer. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has expressed her issues with Steyer as well. She said that the “Democratic primary should not be decided by billionaires.” Sen. Sanders is in agreement with her. He said that he is “tired of seeing billionaires trying to buy political power.”
Getting To The Fall Debates
Despite the gripes the other candidates have, Steyer is one step away from the fall debates.
The political ads Steyer bought are targeted for key state polls. Thanks to the number of ads he bought, he only needs one more poll to qualify. But how are his election odds looking right now?
On Bovada, Tom Steyer has +10000 odds of becoming the Democratic nominee. Steyer also has +20000 of becoming the next President of the United States. Despite the fact he bought so many ads, his election odds rank as one of the worst. That could very well change if Steyer does manage to get on the debate stage.