Democrat billionaire Tom Steyer is drawing hearth after showing at a Could Day rally in East San Jose alongside a well known labor chief, the place he was labeled a “class traitor,” and embraced for it.
Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, president of the California Federation of Labor, highlighted the second on X, writing: “When @TomSteyer exhibits as much as your ‘Staff Over Billionaires’ Could Day Rally in East San Jose, you ask him to put on the shirt. And he does! #ClassTraitor.”
The optics of a billionaire donning anti-billionaire messaging shortly ignited criticism on-line, with detractors blasting each Steyer and arranged labor for what they see as political opportunism.
Some customers pointed to Steyer’s failed 2020 Democratic presidential bid, noting he “wasted hundreds of thousands of {dollars} and couldn’t final one presidential democrat major in South Carolina,” including that he dropped out earlier than Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris.
Others accused him of attempting to “purchase his approach into political workplace” and prompt labor teams had been aligning with him for monetary backing.
Critics additionally questioned his coverage positions, claiming he has reversed course on single-payer healthcare and warn his management might worsen California’s excessive prices.
One commenter dismissed the rally second as empty symbolism: “placing on a slogan shirt is all it takes to idiot you.”
The backlash comes as progressive group Our Revolution, based by Sen. Bernie Sanders, endorsed Steyer’s gubernatorial bid regardless of its anti-billionaire stance.
The group defended the transfer, stating on its web site: “Sure, Tom Steyer is a billionaire. But it surely issues what he’s doing with that energy.”
One other consumer commented on the departure of rich residents from California, posing the query, “The place are the employees purported to work with all of the billionaires fleeing the state?”
In the meantime, Steyer’s marketing campaign is going through resistance from company pursuits.
Utility large Pacific Fuel & Electrical (PG&E) has poured almost $10 million right into a political motion committee opposing him, in line with current state filings.
The PAC, Californians for Resilient and Inexpensive Vitality, is backing one other group, California Is Not For Sale, which has launched a wave of anti-Steyer adverts.
Steyer has made PG&E a central goal, blaming it for hovering vitality prices and pledging to slash utility payments by 25%.
He has additionally proposed breaking apart electrical monopolies and elevating taxes on the rich as a part of his marketing campaign platform.
Regardless of the eye, Steyer stays a protracted shot in a crowded race.
A current EMC Analysis ballot exhibits Xavier Becerra main, tied at 19% with Republican Steve Hilton, who has acquired backing from President Donald Trump.
