$250 million later, Tom Steyer drops out of presidential race after poor showing in South Carolina

Former San Francisco hedge fund chief Tom Steyer bowed out of the presidential race Saturday, ending his expensive and long-shot White House bid after a disappointing showing in South Carolina's primary. 

Former San Francisco hedge fund chief Tom Steyer dropped out of the presidential race Saturday, ending his expensive and long-shot White House bid after a disappointing showing in South Carolina’s primary.

Steyer — the last Californian standing in the White House contest — decided to call it quits, after getting less than 12 percent in the Palmetto State with about three-fourths of votes counted, despite spending more than $22 million on ads in the state.

“Honestly, I can’t see a path where I can win the presidency,” Steyer told supporters in Columbia, S.C.

Steyer spent at least $250 million on his campaign, pitching himself as a progressive political outsider who could go toe-to-toe with President Trump on the economy. But while he saw temporary jumps in the polls in South Carolina and Nevada, Steyer barely had an impact on the broader presidential race, demonstrating the limits of how far huge ad spending can go in lifting an unlikely candidate.

The spending made Steyer the second-biggest self-funding presidential candidate in history, after his fellow 2020 candidate Mike Bloomberg — a dubious record considering he has accumulated zero delegates so far.

Other candidates could follow Steyer’s lead after former Vice President Joe Biden’s blowout victory in South Carolina, as moderate Democrats try to unify and prevent Sen. Bernie Sanders from racking up an unbeatable delegate lead.

With his departure, Steyer leaves seven Democratic candidates still in the race. He didn’t say Saturday night whether he would endorse any of his former rivals.

A businessman and New York City native with a fortune estimated at $1.6 billion, Steyer built one of the nation’s biggest hedge funds, Farallon Capital Management, before stepping away in 2012 to focus on philanthropy and politics.

He helped fund ballot measures and candidates in California, pushing for progressive causes like fighting oil companies and reforming the bail system. He started a prominent nonprofit, now named NextGen America, to organize campaigns and register young voters.

While Steyer had invested in coal and fossil fuel companies at Farallon — a blemish on his record that his White House rivals have brought up in the last few months — he became an ardent environmentalist, pushing policies in California to cut carbon emissions.

For years, Steyer played a will-he-or-won’t-he game in state politics, publicly mulling runs for California governor and U.S. senator but bowing out each time. Instead, he used his fortune to become one of the Democratic Party’s biggest national donors, helping elect congressional Democrats around the country.

Steyer became a more nationally known figure in October 2017 after launching Need to Impeach, a group urging Congress to impeach President Trump. He built a massive list of more than 8 million supporters, and bought national ads featuring himself denouncing the president — which introduced him onscreen as “Tom Steyer, American citizen.”

Steyer originally decided not to run for president in 2020, saying in January 2019 that he would focus on his pro-impeachment efforts. But he changed his mind in July, jumping in the race and arguing that his business record let him draw a sharper contrast with Trump than any of the other contenders.

In a barrage of ads, Steyer denounced Trump as a “fraud and a failure.” He promoted his outsider credentials with proposals like term limits for members of Congress.

He also focused heavily on climate issues, saying he would be the only candidate to call climate change his top priority, and on race, building his campaign in South Carolina around outreach to African-American voters.

Still, Steyer became better known for the red-and-black plaid tie he wore to nearly every campaign event than any of his proposals. Despite spending tens of millions of dollars on ads in California and opening campaign offices up and down his home state, Steyer never rose above low single digits in the polls.

And Bloomberg, who has a net worth nearly 40 times as large as Steyer’s and a much longer record in electoral politics, overshadowed his fellow billionaire after he got in the race in November — even though Steyer is considerably more progressive in his political leanings than the former New York City mayor.

Steyer’s past investments in fossil fuels and private prisons also gave critics an opportunity to paint him as insincere. And while he touted a nonprofit-owned bank that he founded with his wife to help underserved and minority communities, the institution had its own issues, having sued more than 1,800 defaulted auto loan borrowers who the bank was charging interest rates of up to 27.99 percent.

His decision to leave the race before California’s Super Tuesday primary will prevent him from an embarrassing showing in his home state. Some California politicos have speculated that Steyer may want to continue his career as a candidate with a run for office here — potentially challenging Sen. Kamala Harris, another former presidential contender, for re-election in 2022. But there’s no indication whether he’ll do so, and his presidential results don’t exactly inspire confidence.

Still, on the campaign trail, Steyer often appeared to be having more fun than most of his more established competitors. His rallies featured musical performers like the 90’s girl group TLC — and on Friday night, he danced onstage with his wife Kat at his election-eve South Carolina party to a performance of “Back Dat Azz Up” by the rapper Juvenile, swinging his arms and letting loose before a cheering crowd.