Progressive billionaire Tom Steyer remains resolute amid the mounting challenges in his campaign for California governor. On Wednesday, he expressed confidence in his candidacy despite facing an uphill battle to secure necessary votes.
In a message to supporters, campaign manager Heather Hargreaves highlighted the ongoing uncertainties, stating, “There’s still a lot that remains to be seen and we’re going to give democracy time to work.” Her letter underscored the campaign’s commitment to staying the course despite the current outlook.
With 54% of votes counted as of Wednesday afternoon, Steyer finds himself struggling to break into the top two spots required to advance from Tuesday’s primary to a runoff. Currently, he holds 20% of the votes.
He trails nearly 288,000 votes behind former state attorney general and Democrat Xavier Becerra, who stands in second place with 25% of the vote. Leading the pack is Republican Steve Hilton, commanding nearly 28% of the votes.
Hargreaves pointed to Thursday as a pivotal moment, when county election officials will disclose the number of ballots still to be counted and validated. Until then, the total voter turnout remains uncertain, with current data based on estimates.
“The most important thing you can do while we wait is to visit the state’s ballot tracker and verify that your ballot has been accepted,” Hargreaves advised supporters, emphasizing the importance of ensuring every vote is counted.
However, both Becerra and Hilton have expressed strong confidence that they will hold onto their top two spots. Many analysts noted that the gap of hundreds of thousands of votes that Steyer will need to get over is daunting.
“Yes, there could be a huge shift in vote counts today and tomorrow, but Steyer has to make up 300,000 votes, and he is trailing Becerra in most places, and by a lot,” said UCLA political science professor Matt Barreto.
Steyer’s one shot, experts said, relies on him getting momentum from a good ton of the remaining voters breaking his way. California has a notoriously long vote-counting process where officials can take days or even weeks to count ballots arriving “late” after voters dropped or mailed them off on Election Day.
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Those “late” voters are key, said voting data expert Paul Mitchell, and whether there are signs of that momentum may be proven in the first batch of “late” ballots counted Wednesday night.
Some note that Democrats holding onto their ballots until the very end may have decided to vote Steyer disproportionately simply to try to block Hilton, the lone top Republican, out of the runoff.
The struggle for Steyer to advance from the primary is a measly result considering the historic $216 million the billionaire plowed of his own money into the race. Critics watching the vote counts cheered what they said was spending gone to waste and brushed off his chances of surviving.
“Steyer spent hundreds of millions thinking he would fool California voters and lost. He will not be missed,” said Santa Monica resident Ross Gerber.
“Should have given that money to charity versus wasting it on YouTube ads,” he said.
