California billionaire Tom Steyer, a top Democratic donor and former hedge fund manager, has said he is running for president, joining a field of more than two dozen Democrats seeking to challenge US president Donald Trump next year.
In January, Mr Steyer said he would not run for president. But in a video posted on Tuesday, Mr Steyer, 62, reversed course, saying he was running for president on a platform to remove the influence of corporate money from US politics.
“I think what people believe is that the system has left them,” he said in the video. “I think people believe that the corporations have bought the democracy, that the politicians don’t care about or respect them, don’t put them first, are not working for them, but are actually working for the people who have rigged the system.”
Mr Steyer, who has a reported net worth of $1.6bn, has signed Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, vowing to give away at least half of his money to charity. He is the founder of two political organisations: NextGen America, a progressive political action committee, and Need To Impeach, which seeks to initiate impeachment proceedings against Mr Trump.
Mr Steyer announced he was entering the race just one day after California congressman Eric Swalwell dropped out. Mr Swalwell, 38, said on Monday that he was ending his presidential bid and would instead seek a fifth term as the representative for California’s 15th Congressional District, near San Francisco.
