Donald Trump claimed control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil.

He’s calling it “the biggest oil deal in world history.” In his view, this is a masterstroke: immense wealth taken, at no cost to us!

This may have been true a few centuries ago—but not today. In the 21st century, wealth is no longer seized in a resource grab. It is created through technological innovation.

I have written before about the difference between “havers” and “doers.” Havers, like Russia and Venezuela, depend on the resources they happen to possess. Doers, such as Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore, build wealth through innovation. While their nations don’t sit on top of fossil fuels by happenstance, they’ve invested in clean tech, grid resilience, and domestic power generation.

Venezuela is the ultimate warning about the limits of merely “having.” It sits atop one of the largest oil reserves on Earth, yet decades of authoritarianism, corruption, and catastrophic economic mismanagement have left the country desperately poor. Its oil did not produce broadly shared prosperity. It gave a small ruling class something enormously valuable to control—and every incentive to concentrate political and economic power around it.

That is the petro-state model Donald Trump is trying to drag us toward. He mistakes control of a physical resource for national strength, as though the number of barrels under our command determines whether America will prosper. His attempted seizure of Venezuelan oil is only the latest expression of that backward-looking worldview, alongside his efforts to gut clean energy and keep the United States dependent on fossil fuels.

So let’s play make-believe for a second. Suppose Trump’s plan works exactly as intended and America gains control of 65 billion barrels of oil. What, exactly, have we won?

Not much. recently explained why this kind of colonial adventuring hasn’t paid for at least a century, writing that modern countries do not get rich by conquering territory and carrying away whatever they find. Gaining control is expensive; maintaining it is worse. Eventually, the cost overwhelms the value of whatever can be extracted. Even under absurdly generous assumptions, Krugman calculates that the oil might produce $1.3 trillion in profits “over many years.” Meanwhile, America’s total wealth is roughly $167 trillion.

Trump has violated another country’s sovereignty and validated every accusation of American imperialism for an economic rounding error, but even that understates the damage. The true tragedy for our country is what we’re failing to do instead.

While Trump chases the oil economy of past centuries, the rest of the world is building the clean-energy future of this one—with or without us. Last year, the world added a record 800 gigawatts of renewable power; one in four new cars sold worldwide was electric; and the global market for major clean-energy technologies reached nearly $1.2 trillion, after growing an average of 20 percent a year for a decade.

Those building the clean energy future are also building industries from scratch that now employ hundreds of thousands of people. Solar panels, battery stories, and electric vehicles represent factories, intellectual property, skilled jobs, cheaper energy, and national security—to name a few.

The countries that build the energy of this century will create the wealth and prosperity for this century. Donald Trump is dead-set on leaving the United States behind, even though America has every advantage required to lead: scientists, engineers, workers, capital, research institutions, and a culture of solving hard problems.

We can still choose to be a nation of doers, rather than havers. But first Americans must recognize energy policy for what it is—not a separate, abstract issue for other people to worry about, but a fight over our jobs, shared prosperity, security, and place in the world.

Trump thinks he conquered 65 billion barrels of wealth. Instead, he’s surrendering our future.

After the governor’s race, I took a week off. That was great, and then it was time to get back to work.

At the end of the primary, I told you I was on your team forever. I’ve spent the summer thinking about what that promise should mean in practice. During the campaign, I traveled up and down California and met nurses, teachers, childcare workers, small-business owners, parents, students, firefighters, farmers, organizers, and people working incredibly hard just to make a life here. They welcomed me into their homes, introduced me to their communities, and told me about just how hard it was – is – to make ends meet in the best state of them all. The time I spent in their company changed me forever.

I heard from nurses about the ways our broken healthcare system puts corporate profit before their patients. I heard from teachers about how their schools were underfunded and falling apart. And I saw, everywhere I went, the consequences of a system that tells us that money is everything – and then does its darnedest to keep that money away from the very people whose blood, sweat, and tears keep the whole thing running.

Everywhere I went, I saw how people carved out these pockets of time and freedom for themselves. But everywhere I went, I saw how much harder it’s become for them. How their work hours are longer than ever, and their pay is worse than ever. How the places they grew up are no longer places they can afford to live. How the lands they’ve always loved are literally burning up.

When I think about what it means to be your teammate – to make good on my commitments to you – those are the things I’m thinking of. Those are the problems I want to work on, the people I want to work with – and the reason what’s next for me includes a recommitment to the climate work I’ve done for two decades.

But I’m thinking about that work differently now.

For years, the climate movement has defined the problem far too narrowly. We’ve talked about emissions targets and degrees Celsius as though presenting the right statistics would shock the political system into an urgent, rational response. The statistics are real, and they are terrible. But almost no one wakes up in a cold sweat thinking about 1.7 degrees Celsius.

People do not experience climate change as 1.7 degrees Celsius. People experience climate change as their sky-rocketing electricity and insurance bills, as their taps running dry, as the orange skies we’ve come to expect every September.

None of those outcomes is determined by climate alone – how could they be? Before anything else – before any oil flows or any grids fail – decisions are made about who pays, who profits, whose neighborhood gets protected, and whose risks are ignored. Those decisions are not about “climate.” Those are decisions about political power. And those decisions are vulnerable to the sorts of insidious – and deeply normalized – pay-to-play corruption I spent my campaign talking about and fighting against.

When we call the whole thing “climate,” we can obscure the corruption, inequality, corporate influence, and human consequences that determine people’s actual experiences of the world. We make it sound like a specialized environmental concern instead of a fight over who controls our resources and whether the system works for ordinary people.

Fundamentally, protecting the natural world is not a standalone issue. What we think of narrowly as “climate” is in fact where so many of these fights collide: AI is electricity. War is oil. And national competitiveness is energy: the countries that can produce abundant, reliable, affordable power will lead the industries of the future. Energy policy determines which families can pay to keep the lights on, whether good jobs and new industries are built here or somewhere else, and whether communities or corporations control essential resources.

The problem is power, in both senses of the word. The people getting rich from the existing system have enormous political influence, and they are using it to block solutions that anyone who is not willfully ignorant knows are cheaper, cleaner, and better – because those solutions threaten the way they make their money.

I will continue to work at Galvanize, the investment firm I co-founded to back companies building a cleaner economy. But investing will be only one part of my work. I will keep organizing, fighting for better policy, and speaking plainly about the people and interests standing in the way.This is where I have experience, where I know I can be useful, and where one of the biggest fights of our generation is happening right now. Who will control the future – and who will it be built for?

But I am not going to talk about climate as though it exists apart from everything else. Because it doesn’t. I want to talk about who controls our resources, who writes the rules, who profits, who pays, and how we can collectively value the things that cannot be monetized. I want to fight back against the corruption and cowardice that keep us from deploying better technologies and building a better future. I want to support the people – in California, and far beyond it – doing everything they can to win these fights.

Donald Trump and his enablers are trying to destroy this country. Defeating them is essential. But opposition alone is not enough. We have to start building the alternative now: cheaper and cleaner energy, an economy that works for working people, and a democracy that cannot be bought by the highest bidder.

That is the work I am committing myself to, and I am asking you to stay in the fight with me. Pay attention to who profits and who pays. Support the people building something better. Name the people standing in the way.

And I intend to tell the truth about those people, even if that pisses some of them off.

I’m ready to get to work. I hope you’ll join me.

When we compare energy sources, we tend to speak in dollar amounts – how clean energy will or won’t compete with the price of gas, how solar compares to wind, how much an EV will or won’t save us. When we ask ourselves which energy source is better, we often just mean which is cheaper.

Today, though, the question we should be asking ourselves is no longer about price alone but instead: Can we rely on a given source at all?

In 1975, Edward Abbey wrote a very funny – and very smart – book about environmental criminals who attempt to defend the natural world by destroying the machines that would doze and develop it. They blow up bulldozers, set fire to billboards and bridges, and do whatever they can to evade law enforcement and impede construction – all in the name of environmental protection, of preserving the pristine wilderness of the American southwest.

Today’s version of The Monkey Wrench Gang has no such high-minded eco-ideals.

The Iranian government just wants to stick it to Donald Trump. But, deliberately or not, they are making the same point as Abbey’s eco-criminals: Your economic progress is not safe. We can blow it up whenever we want.

Conventional wisdom has long held that major powers could protect centralized infrastructure and global supply routes, but as drone technology has advanced, so too have the threats to the energy infrastructure we’ve long taken for granted.

Drones have changed the strategic calculation because they are cheap, widely available, and difficult and expensive to defend against. That threat applies most directly to oil ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, but it applies to oilfields, pipelines, and refineries just as well. Drones make them all vulnerable to attacks, as we’ve seen across Russia and Ukraine.

And Ukraine and Russia are demonstrating a larger national-security problem with centralized, fossil-fuel-dependent energy systems. If your country depends on a relatively small number of pipelines, refineries, fuel depots, shipping routes, or foreign suppliers, you have created choke points. All an enemy needs to do is hit or control these vulnerabilities to upend your entire energy system.

We should not recreate an energy system where another country, or even a relatively small number of determined actors, can hold an entire economy up.

What does this mean? It’s another argument for distributed renewable energy – one that leaders globally should heed as they consider both their energy and national security priorities.

Clean is cheaper. Clean doesn’t pollute. And now clean is more secure.

Distributed generation means an attacker cannot disable the entire system by destroying a small number of indispensable assets. The more power generated across millions of different locations, the fewer choke points there are to attack – and the less leverage anyone has over us.

To put it bluntly: No one is going to send a fleet of 38,000 drones to blow up the $10,000 worth of solar panels on your roof.

As batteries become cheaper and provide power for longer periods, households and communities will become less dependent not only on oil and gas but also on large, centralized utilities – the same twentieth-century clunkers that make decreasing strategic economic sense for households and governments alike.

The fossil-fuel oligarchs have always tried to control the supply and, thus, the price of energy. But in the end, they all needed the money, so the oil always flowed.

The modern Monkey Wrench Gang just wants to disrupt. And if we continue to believe that historical stability is future stability, we only give them more opportunities to.

The argument for clean energy is no longer just one about price, or even the climate; the case for clean energy is now also the case for bolstering individual freedom and national security. Clean has never looked cheaper, better, or safer.

After decades of undisputed climate leadership, California regulators and politicians are bending the knee to Big Oil — buying the manufactured panic of petro-criminals and selling our future as collateral. The clean energy revolution was born in California — and if Big Oil has its way, it’ll die in California, too.

Earlier this year, in the earliest days of Trump’s pointless war in Iran, large oil and gas companies approached the California Air Resources Board with a lie and an ask: Gas prices were high, they said — wasn’t that evidence of California’s inability to support a functioning carbon market? Shouldn’t that justify gutting the pesky pay-for-pollution programs that ate into their profits?

With Big Oil’s propaganda in their ears, CARB — and every elected leader in Sacramento who should have known better — folded.

Nevermind that gas prices were only up because of Trump’s war of choice. Nevermind that if the oil giants had wanted to keep prices down, they could have. There was money to be made, and, as is its way, Big Oil shamelessly went after it — at the expense of California’s first-in-the-nation Cap and Invest program.

Cap and Invest is the cornerstone of California’s decarbonization policy. It operates on a simple idea: polluters have to pay for their emissions and the money generated is used for public transit, electricity rebates, community air pollution reduction programs, and affordable housing. In its 13 years on the books, Cap and Invest has driven over $30 billion into those programs. Last fall, it was extended through 2045 — a major win for communities most impacted by climate change, and for our path to net-zero.

But Big Oil, predictably, would rather pollute without penalty.

The war in Iran presented Big Oil with an opportunity to push for exactly that. Big Oil pointed to the spike in gas prices as a reason they deserved a break from Cap and Invest’s penalties. Their lobbyists conveniently left out the fact that since 2015, Big Oil has charged Californians an unexplained “Mystery Gas Surcharge” of, on average, $0.41 per gallon — adding up to roughly $59 billion dollars. No environmental regulation, state, or federal tax explains this extra charge.

The picture gets even worse when you look solely at gas stations owned by the name-brand oil companies like Chevron and Valero, which have been charging Californians an exorbitant $0.75-per-gallon premium. Texas-based Chevron is posting record profits and crying poverty. They take us for fools.

In late May, CARB adopted rules that surrender our climate future to Big Oil’s demands. The new rules dilute and delegitimize the Cap and Invest market to the tune of up to $2 billion of unrealized revenue per year that goes directly to local communities to reduce pollution and lower prices — all to boost the already skyrocketing profits of Big Oil. It reeks of corruption. It hurts vulnerable communities. And it runs counter to logic. As I wrote to CARB and Governor Newsom earlier this year, the volatility of fossil fuel prices is an argument to move away from them — not to subsidize them, or to give CPR to what should be a dying industry.

All signs point to this being the moment to double down on climate leadership: solar is cheaper than ever. Batteries are better than ever. Wind power will never get stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. Shepherding along the clean energy transition is precisely what Cap and Invest was intended to do. Why, then, are our leaders choosing to abandon the leadership position California worked so hard to earn? The answer is as obvious as it is disappointing: Big Oil’s propaganda and money.

The people that should be winning us our future are choking with the game on the line.

This story is so much bigger than a single regulatory battle. It’s a story of structural corruption, of corporate capture, of how, when given the choice, our leaders have sold out their constituents and our climate future. This is how the world’s most profitable industries buy their way out of trouble: they give money to politicians, deploy armies of lobbyists and rig the system for themselves. It is almost cartoonishly unfair: Big Oil price gouges Californians at the pump with one hand, and successfully lobbies to pilfer transit funding with the other. The contempt these bigwigs feel for Californians just trying to scrape by — just trying to get from point A to point B — is endless. It’s shameful.

By surrendering what should have been a straightforward climate win — the 20-year extension of Cap and Invest — at the last minute, under self-interested pressure from unmistakably bad actors, CARB has willingly jeopardized California’s long-standing status as a climate leader — and the broader climate agenda. If a one-time, fossil-fueled lobbying blitz can successfully defang California’s flagship climate program, what’s going to stop Big Oil from running the same playbook again and again?

We can — and must — demand better. The legislature still has a say in how Cap and Invest revenues will be allocated. Contact your elected officials to tell them that they have a responsibility to put affordability, people, public health and our state’s future ahead of corporate greed. Let them know that you are not happy that the community funding they have fought so hard to protect is being siphoned off by Big Oil. Tell them that the stakes are nothing less than our collective future — and whether our government serves Californians, or corporations.

This past Saturday, America turned 250 years old.

The Fourth of July marks the day that a small group of committed people, speaking for the masses, stood up to a tyrant – the day ordinary people took on a leader who believed their country existed for his personal benefit. Everything else we’ve come to associate with the holiday is a celebration of that single act of courage.

Which is why this administration’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday was such a complete failure. It was King George throwing the birthday party. That doesn’t work. Donald Trump embodies the problem the holiday exists to commemorate overcoming. To him, patriotism is a celebration of power. Our founders understood it to be a celebration of freedom. And the president’s deliberate perversion of our founding principles is the real story of this moment in America: selfishness and cynicism replacing idealism, one institution at a time.

We don’t have to accept this. And we shouldn’t. Like our founders before us, and like so many generations of great Americans after them, we must name corruption and abuse of power when we see them – and remain committed to one another, and the work of building a nation that truly serves us all.

Because, as he’s made clear for decades now, Trump’s corrupt self-interest has no bounds.

We saw this clearly with his most recent crypto scam. New analysis shows that nearly one million people who bought Donald Trump’s crypto coin lost money on it. That’s two out of every three buyers – and combined losses of up to $3.8 billion. Meanwhile, Trump’s own financial disclosure shows he walked away with a $636 million payout from the very same coin, because it was structured to pay him fees on every single trade, whether the price went up or down. In other words: guaranteed profit for him – at everyone else’s expense.

I’ve spent most of my career as an investor. That job is grounded in a simple fact: people are trusting you with their money. That trust is the entire foundation of the work.

Did Trump apologize to his most ardent supporters, those loyal enough to buy the coin he told them to? Of course not. Because this ridiculous gambit was never about them. It was just another opportunity for him to enrich himself. Trump’s a grifter – and once again, the people who trusted him most are the ones left holding the bag. I know a crook when I see one. I started an organization to impeach this man back in 2017, when most Democrats were still preaching norms and civility. Nothing about him has changed, but the scale of his corruption has.

We saw it perhaps most absurdly with his intervention in the World Cup – what should be the most positive international event in the world, a celebration of soccer and the people who love it.Here’s what happened: Last Wednesday, the American striker Folarin Balogun was shown a red card in our win over Bosnia, which under the rules meant an automatic one-game suspension. The way I see it as a lifelong soccer fan and former collegiate player, it should have been a yellow. But you don’t fix a bad call by having the most powerful man make one in return – which, of course, is exactly what Trump did.

FIFA, a deeply, historically corrupt organization, folded: For the first time in more than 60 years of World Cup play, a red card came with no suspension. Europe’s governing body said FIFA crossed a red line. Belgium’s federation called the decision incomprehensible. They’re right.

Let’s be clear: FIFA bent the rules because the president of the United States asked them to. That is textbook corruption. Ugly politics marring the Beautiful Game.

The US faced Belgium in the Round of 16, and Belgium’s coach spent the weekend telling the world that his team was defending soccer itself against Donald Trump. On Monday, they beat us 4-1, and it wasn’t close. Belgium’s official account posted two words: “Overturn this.”

With that well-deserved burn, our tournament ended. But our fight at home continues.

These three events – America’s 250th, Trump’s crypto scam, and the World Cup – effectively summarize the essence of this presidency. And they reveal the work left for us to do. They represent the way that selfishness and cynicism are threatening to replace hope and idealism in this country, because that’s all Donald Trump has to offer. Selfishness and cynicism are all he’s got. Idealism, the belief that we can build something together that’s bigger than any one of us, is simply not in him.

Every year, July 4th reminds us of our capacity to stand together in the face of oppression – it’s the story of a tyrant and what free people did about him. 250 years later, we have another tyrant to stand up to. We can stand up to him with our own idealism, with our own insistence that the principles our founders fought for – truth, liberty, and justice – are still the things we value today. Doing so is an essential and radical act of resistance against his selfishness and cynicism. And we can show – in how we live, work, vote, and treat one another – what it looks like to be a genuine patriot, a person willing to fight against tyranny and for the country and people he loves.

It worked 250 years ago. It will take time, but it will work again.

It’s now clear that we do not have the votes necessary to advance to the general election in November. First, before any pride in what we accomplished or disappointment in what we didn’t, I want to express my gratitude. To all those of you who knocked doors, made phone calls, came to a town hall, or trusted me with your vote: Thank you. Your support – and dedication to your fellow Californians – humbles and inspires me, and I’m forever changed by the months we spent together. Every day reminded me of what I knew on the very first: that Californians are special, and they deserve a state they can afford to live, work, play, and imagine a future in.

For the rest of my life, I will be proud of the ways we fought for and with working people, earning endorsements from unions representing nurses, educators, carpenters, home care workers, hotel and restaurant workers, and the votes of almost 2 million Californians who dared to demand more for each other and the state they love. Together, we fought for a California that belongs to the people who keep it running every day, and we insisted that they do not have to settle for a system that protects corporate profits at the expense of working people. I’m proud of how we never compromised our values or lowered our sights for what California can and should be.

And I’m proud of the enemies we made. We forced Chevron, PG&E, Meta, and so many others out of hiding. We forced them to show who and what they have always stood for, and we challenged the greed and cowardice that allow them to raise costs, suppress wages, pollute communities, and treat workers as disposable. In this race, those corporations revealed that they see a government that puts working people first as an existential threat – even when proposed by a billionaire. By spending $55 million – the most ever against a single candidate in a California primary – they showed the lengths they would go to in order to protect a status quo that only serves them and their profits.

And now, the genie is out of the bottle. This campaign proved that business-as-usual depends on politics-as-usual, and there is no going back. We must continue to fight for a system where democracy serves Californians, not corporations – and where you do not have to be a billionaire to run on single-payer, or on breaking up monopolies, or on calling out a corrupt system when you see it. Because people are fed up with a system rigged to benefit billionaires and leave them behind. They see what’s happening, and they know who to blame. It’s why so many people voted for our platform. And it’s not lost on me that it’s also why so many people just couldn’t stomach voting for a billionaire. It’s hard to blame them.

I have always been an optimist, and today, I remain an optimist. Nothing this campaign fought for is far off. These dreams we dreamt together are not too big. Californians deserve a life they can afford, and they deserve for it to be in California. My commitment to this fight didn’t start last November, and it doesn’t end today. Because the work of winning a better, fairer California is not the work of a campaign. It is the work of my life.

For now, we must stay focused. Donald Trump is the embodiment of the corporations’ craven, soulless, profit-first model of politics, and it is absolutely essential that his handpicked candidate does not hold the keys to California. It would be a travesty for Steve Hilton to win the governorship, and Californians must unite behind Xavier Becerra to ensure he does not.

To my supporters: Thank you for everything. When I promised to fight for you, that was not a campaign promise. It was just a promise. And I am a man of my word. I’m on your team forever. I wasn’t born a billionaire, I won’t die a billionaire, and I’ll spend the rest of my life working alongside you to dismantle a system that only benefits billionaires.

Today, my message to you is simple: Pay attention. Know what you deserve, and know who is on your side. Understand who the villains are, and say their names out loud. Continue to demand more from your leaders and your government, until they give you the California – and the country – you know you deserve. I will be with you all the way.

With gratitude,

Tom

On Tuesday, millions of Californians will cast a ballot to help determine the kind of state we want to live in together.

So if you’re one of the many who are still trying to make their mind up about who to vote for in this election, I get it. Our political system can be demoralizing, and the frustration and fear people feel in the Trump era makes it clear that the choices we make in elections have never been more important.

Your vote matters, and you want to make the right choice. So as you consider your vote, I want you to hear a few things straight from me:

I’m not in this race for me. I’m in it for you. There are no people like the people of California. I’m proud to have the best of us on my side—from nurses to educators and school employees, from environmentalists to stagehands to childcare providers. I love this state’s optimism and grit. The fact that the world has always looked to us for a glimpse of the future. And I decided to run for governor for a very simple reason: The people who make this state work should be able to afford to live here.

If the people ripping you off are against me, I must be doing something right. Unlike my opponents, I am not funded by any special interests or big corporations. Zero. I don’t need their money, and I’ll never do their dirty work. You deserve a governor who won’t sell you out to the highest bidder—who will take decisive action to change the status quo. I will. And that’s why so many massive corporations, from Chevron to Meta to Big Tobacco, are spending tens of millions of dollars to defeat me.

I know exactly how I am going to lower costs quickly for Californians—and I don’t care who hates me for it. I have the most detailed plans of anyone in this race on how to make California more affordable—when it comes to lowering your utility bills, when it comes to making housing cost less, when it comes to making our highest earners pay what they ought to be paying, and more. I’m the only progressive candidate in this race, and it’s not even close.

I know a lot of people have reservations about voting for a billionaire. I get it. I see the ways so many billionaires lie, cheat, and steal to get whatever they can out of the system—and then do everything they can to hoard their wealth and avoid paying taxes. I’m absolutely against that. I wasn’t born a billionaire, I won’t die a billionaire, and I’ll never govern for billionaires. As governor, I’ll raise taxes on billionaires, and I’m the only leading candidate who will say that.

I know this race has often felt complicated. But with one day left until Election Day, with everything on the table, it’s actually become very simple:

Do you want a California for corporations, or a California for Californians?

Do you want this to be a state where our healthcare system puts profit over people? Do you want this to be a state where Big Oil charges you eight dollars a gallon for gas? A state where special interests rig the system for themselves? These aren’t difficult questions. I know my answer. And if I’ve been hearing you right these last several months, I think I know your answer, too.

For too long, we’ve had a system where corporations buy off politicians to protect their profits. We’ve seen it in this race. Chevron cuts you a check, and you look the other way when they hike prices at the pump. Meta gives you money, and your AI plan starts sounding like ChatGPT.

That’s the story of Xavier Becerra’s campaign.

He suddenly dropped his support for single-payer, and then the most powerful anti-single-payer lobby maxed out to his campaign. He supported more drilling in California, and the next week Big Oil thanked him with half a million dollars.

I’m running because I believe Californians deserve better than that.

I might be the only billionaire on the ballot, but I’m not the only one in this race. In this race, the corporations and billionaires have picked their candidate. Xavier Becerra is backed by a roster of corporations and billionaires who got rich by ripping you off—and who want a governor who’ll let them keep doing it. Chevron, Meta, Uber, Airbnb, PG&E, and McDonald’s have given tens of millions of dollars to boost his campaign, and stop ours. Big Tobacco was the latest addition to this list.

So, just ask yourself: Do you really want the same future Chevron does? Do you want the same things Meta wants? Does Big Tobacco want good things for the people of California? These companies might be selfish, but they’re not stupid. They don’t give hundreds of thousands of dollars to get someone elected, unless they know he’s going to be on their side. It’s not charity. It’s an investment. And they expect a return on that investment in Xavier Becerra.

How do I know that we can win? Because we’ve done it before.

I’ve spent the last 15 years taking on powerful special interests hell-bent on preserving the status quo. When we first said we wanted to take on Big Oil, all the Sacramento insiders told us there was no way we’d win. That there was no way we’d beat the powerful interests we were up against. But we went ahead anyway. And we didn’t just beat the special interests—we smashed them.

It turned out that closing tax loopholes for wealthy out-of-state corporations didn’t drive business away—it just raised money for schools. And it turned out that free lunch for every child in California wasn’t a utopian idea—it was just a good one. And it turned out that Big Tobacco wasn’t invincible, and Big Oil wasn’t unbeatable—someone just had to stand up to them.

I led a campaign to impeach Donald Trump at a time when other Democrats were still preaching “norms” and “civility.” We started a movement of 8 million Americans demanding his impeachment. Because I’ve been in enough boardrooms to know a crook when I see one.

We won free lunch for every kid in California. We built 17,000 units of affordable housing. We secured billions of dollars for schools, healthcare, and clean energy projects—all without costing Californian taxpayers a cent. That’s what we were able to do from outside the governor’s office. Imagine what we’ll be able to do from within it. If we win, corporations lose.

I’m running for governor because I believe in a not-so-radical idea: California should work for working people. The people that make this state work should be able to afford to live here. The young people who’re getting screwed should be able to feel hope for their future—a future in California. This is the richest state in the richest country in the history of the world. It’s unacceptable that so many Californians struggle to make ends meet. Here’s the truth: for every bill that’s too high, there’s a special interest profiting off of keeping it there. They want you to believe that’s inevitable. That it’s just how the market works. But they’re wrong. We don’t have to accept this. I’m running for governor because I know that a better California is possible. I know what it looks like. And I know we can win it together.

So many Californians tell me that they don’t believe government can do anything for them. They don’t believe it can work. There’s only one candidate who’ll change that. Let’s show them how great this state can be.

We can prove that single-payer is possible, and homeownership is achievable, and that corporate monopoly power is not inevitable.

We can close corporate tax loopholes to fund our schools and healthcare.

We can stand up to Trump and put ICE in jail.

We can make polluters pay—instead of cashing their checks.

When you cast your ballot, it’s not about me. It’s about single-payer. It’s about climate progress. It’s about housing. It’s about taxing billionaires, which no other candidate has said they will do.

We can prove that a California that works for working people is possible. That’s what’s on your ballot. But I can’t do it alone. And I wouldn’t want to. I need you—all of you. Today, tomorrow, and every day after.

That’s why I’m asking for your support today—because a better California is only possible if we vote for it.

Tom is a fierce champion for working families—a fierceness matched by his partner of 43 years, Kat Taylor. With Tom as co-founder and board chair of Beneficial State Bank, as well as co-founder of TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation, she works to reform economies and rulemaking to co-create, with diverse frontline communities, social justice and environmental wellbeing for all.

TS Campaign: How did you and Tom meet?

Kat: I met Tom when we were both in graduate school. He was in the last of his two years, and I was in my first of four, which meant we were going to try to sustain our relationship over three years of separation. We had common friends from college, and I definitely noticed his charisma from afar. But the first time we actually met—and we have a totally different memory of this—I was running a track workout. A law school friend and I were running five one-mile repeats in 5 minutes and 45 seconds each, with a two-minute rest in between. I’d run track in college, and I was trying to run competitively in graduate school.

Anyway, I think I was on the fourth of the five miles, and Tom stepped up and said, “Hey do you mind if I run with you?” And I said, “Not at all, but we’re running a regimen. We’re running five 5:45s for four miles, and we’ll run as fast as we can on the last one.” So he steps on the track, and he immediately blows the pace. And I’m a competitive person, so I keep up with him. So then it’s time to do the fifth mile—which is his second mile—and he goes, “Do you wanna just dog it on this one?” And I said, “Absolutely not, that would be chicken shit.” So we both ran as fast as we could for the last. Sound familiar?

But that sort of embodies our entire relationship. We’ve actually shaped each other’s philosophies, values, and purpose through vigorous discussion of critical issues that hue a better solution together than we could apart, like an alloy forged in fire.

TS Campaign: What was Tom like back then?

Kat: So, I went to business and law school at the same time, and they were very different in culture. Business school was super confident, sometimes even super arrogant. Most competitive business people don’t allow an inkling of self-doubt. They never question whether they’re going to come out on top. And Tom, he is superlative at achievement. He was always at the absolute top of everything in school, in athletics and in business. And I knew this. But over our first meal ever together, I asked him what he did over the summer between business school years, figuring he’d had a very competitive job somewhere. So he says, well, I was selling air conditioners door-to-door, and it turned out I was really bad at it. I remember thinking, “Did you just say you were bad at something?” In business school, you didn’t hear people utter those words. He is the most amazing combination of excellence, humility, confidence, and independence I have ever met. And that’s true in this campaign, too.

TS Campaign: Tom has the most detailed plans to make California affordable of any candidate in this race, which speaks to his deep understanding of the issues impacting working families. What should voters understand about Tom as a leader—and potentially the next governor of California?

Kat: I don’t need to describe Tom with a string of adjectives like he’s some kind of honor Eagle Scout because the record is clear on that. What I really want people to know is how fiercely independent Tom is. I am the person who knows that best, so just trust me. But here’s why it matters. We have so much corruption in the system. And anybody who has enough power to change that can’t, because it’s where their power comes from. But Tom doesn’t need money from anybody else. He has no conflict of interest. He is not a professional politician. If you have enemies like Tom has, you must be doing the right thing.

He just wants to change the world for the better with the people and planet who deserve that. He is fiercely independent—I can personally attest to that. He is not bought and paid for. He has no sacred cows. He’s the kind of billionaire who says I am going to do what is right for the people and the planet. That’s why he’s the guy for this moment. Nobody else on that stage will take that on—and none of them could get it done if they did.

You know, leadership is lonely. It’s stepping away from the crowd, even if it means you don’t get invited for a beer or they turn you over to the violent mob. If it means doing the right thing, Tom is willing to be unpopular. And that’s what we need right now.

That’s what I wish people would know about him. He’s the most unique change agent necessary for these times. And we need that. Otherwise, we’re going to go further down the path of corruption and self-interest against the rest of us—all of these things that are literally killing us and choking the planet to death. But we are better people than that, and we have always been. There has always been a better way. So let’s go there together.

TS Campaign: What can you tell us about Tom personally that voters might not get to know?

Kat: He’s a very sincere person. He really does love people. When he talks about veterans and chokes up…when he defends trans youth, when he says it’s working people who died in the mud and fought for a system that enables people to build businesses and become billionaires…he’s serious about that. He believes in the power, promise, and worthiness of every single person. It’s only bad systems that put them in these terrible places. And we are fighting for shared power and prosperity. Nothing else will do.

TS Campaign: Is there anything else you’d like to share that might give us a glimpse into who your husband is?

Kat: One of his favorite songs is called the Balm of Gilead. It’s a Scottish spiritual hymn…a call to action. It’s meant to give people courage. He loves those kinds of things. He believes in the power of art. He hosts a poetry luncheon every year where we read poems out loud, which is very fun. Every family toast includes singing. I sing every time I speak because we need creativity to remember who we are.

We still love to run together. He ran Hood-to-Coast and I ran Calistoga to Santa Cruz, but we couldn’t do it together because one of us had to be home with the kids. We also share a love of backpacking—we even went on our honeymoon. He’s trying to bag all fourteen of the 14,000-foot peaks in California. I did the first four, maybe five, with him, but then they get more technical. I don’t like being tied to a rope and hanging over a thousand feet of rock. But we’re very outdoorsy people. We love to play sports. When the kids were younger, Tom enjoyed following them in sports.

TS Campaign: We had a chance to speak to three of your kids—Evi couldn’t join because of the nature of her work. But it was so clear how much they enjoy each other’s company. It’s a testament to both of you.

Kat: Thank you. You know, I think our finest accomplishment is to have children who love each other and want to be together. And of course, Evi supports Tom wholeheartedly, but there are rules she has to observe, so the rest of our family will carry her torch. (BTW, not as a spoiler, but Evi and Tom are two of the most voracious readers even in a family of readers!) Storytelling is a really big part of Tom’s life and of our family life. Our son Gus is named for a character in Lonesome Dove. Augustus McCrae, who is one of the great characters in life, and Sam is actually named after Sam Shepherd, the playwright. Our family read and listened to books together every night because we are all people of oral traditions first, and that’s just fun, but also humanity.

TS Campaign: What would you tell voters suspicious about Tom’s motivations? How would you convince them he’s sincere?

Kat: We are very devoted to working people and to labor. Capital has been beating up on labor for centuries, and it’s just got to stop. Tom is very validated on that commitment, and I have been on that campaign forever. We’ve supported a lot of labor unions. We’ve banked a lot of labor unions. Beneficial State Bank, the community bank we founded, is the first bank to unionize in 40 years. And that’s not an accident. It’s because banks are openly hostile to labor unions. They’re the biggest enemy labor unions have. But Beneficial State Bank was built on mutualism and cooperation.

So that commitment to working people is real, credible, and verifiable. And it just makes sense. Who are we for if we’re not for working people? And how is it you can work 40, 60, 80, 120 hours a week and still have to live under a freeway ramp? That doesn’t make any sense. Poverty is not natural. Mutualism is the best thing we could do for ourselves and each other. We can do better together than we can apart. Tom and I fiercely believe that.

TS Campaign: What’s made you proudest of him in this race for governor?

Kat: Well, I honestly think Tom is really, really brilliant in the ways that matter. Like when he talks about trans athletes. People who oppose trans athletes being able to play high school and college sports are thinking about the competitive needs of the generalized population. They can’t empathize. But they’re not standing in the shoes of trans athletes. Half of trans youth try to kill themselves. That should stop every other conversation. That is a national emergency. Why do high school sports matter more than that? How can that be true? I don’t think we should ever separate smartness from kindness. I don’t have any respect for smartness without kindness.

I learned very early on to try to see around corners. This is an inflection point in civilization where we need a lot of people to see around the corners at once and to crowdsource solutions. If we let big commercial solar own all of energy generation, we have a problem. If we let AI own all of the data centers, we have a problem. If we let big food own the means of food production, we have a problem. And these and other problems are going to hit low-power communities first—marginalized communities that lack political power, who bear the brunt of othering, historical abuse, and racism, and everything else.

Right now, it feels like everything is just happening to us, and it’s important to remind people that they still have a say. They can still be part of a solution, even though it doesn’t feel that way. We need to share power again. But to do that, we’re going to have to free our minds of conventional thinking.

This is the moment where we have to get this right. I believe Tom Steyer can see around some of these corners. And I do love him with all my heart and all my soul.

I’m proud to chair a grassroots organization called the Black American Political Association of California, San Diego.

We’ve been around for more than 25 years, and our mission is to advance San Diego’s Black community by developing leaders, informing policy, and educating the public. We aim to give voice to the voiceless in our community.

A few years ago, our organization was in a tough financial spot, and we weren’t certain we were going to make it. But then we received a substantial grant from Tom Steyer’s NextGen America, which allowed us to make key investments in our voter registration and education efforts. We made that money last for more than five years — and it changed everything for us.

That funding allowed us to create new infrastructure, including building out our social media and website, securing legal services, and bringing on new staff, creating new jobs in our community. We were able to give away scholarships and support other non-profits, investing in our residents. Tom’s investment allowed us to become a formidable organization, influencing and helping to support, invest in, and cultivate the largest number of Black elected officials in San Diego—California’s second-largest city, where Black folks make up five percent of the population.

Tom took a chance on us when no one else would, and I’ll never forget it. That’s why we’re still standing today.

I’ve been getting texts nonstop from voters, asking who BAPAC is supporting. I know I’ll get dozens more between now and Election Day. And I’m proud to tell them the answer is Tom Steyer.

I also want to speak for a moment about Tom’s heart. He’s a Christian, and so am I.

I was in the audience at a recent town hall he held, where he directly addressed some of the investments he made many decades ago—and his decision to ultimately walk away from Farallon, the investment firm he’d founded, to pursue work more aligned with his values. He likened his journey to that of Saul’s on the road to Damascus—how he’d changed along the way, and become Paul, one of Christ’s most devout and influential followers. “People can change and do the right thing,” he said. I remember looking at the person sitting next to me and just saying, “Wow.”

Because I know that was real. I know that was from his heart. I know that’s who he is. I’ve shared that story with others, as well, and it’s convinced them to vote for Tom, too. This is a side of him that I wish more California voters could see—his heart, his decency, his introspection and willingness to change course. Every human is flawed —but not every human can look themselves in the eye and commit to continually learning and growing. Tom can.

That’s what we need in our next leader for California. Someone with faith, someone with humility, someone who is willing to dream big for this state again. We need Tom Steyer, and I’m proud to support him. I hope you will, too. So get that ballot in by June 2nd. Here’s all the information you need to make sure you’re ready to vote.

Thanks for listening.

-Ellen Nash

Chair, Black American Political Association of California, San Diego

If policy rockstars are a thing, Arnie Sowell and Dan Kammen are at the top of the list. Arnie spent two decades in the California State Assembly before becoming executive director of NextGen Policy, a nonprofit founded and funded by Tom. Dan is a world-renowned energy scientist and climate justice advocate. We caught up with them to ask why they support Tom—and why they think you should, too.

Campaign: You’ve both known Tom for a while now. When did you first meet?

Dan: I met Tom about 10 years ago. I think it was part of some work he and his wife Kat were doing for their foundation. Every now and again our paths would cross because we were both working on climate. We did some roundtables and interviews together early on, and I endorsed him during his presidential run, which was really about getting climate on the national agenda. I also interviewed him over video for a course I teach on environmental justice. I still show the video today.

Arnie: We met about 10 years ago when Tom was looking for someone to lead NextGen’s California policy work. I had worked in the state legislature for a long time, so I sat down with Tom to learn more about what he was looking to do. I didn’t walk into that meeting thinking, oh I want to work for this guy. But I was pretty blown away in terms of how down to earth and engaged he was. We got into the weeds on some policy issues, which for me was refreshing. I got a real sense of his genuineness and seriousness about wanting to make a difference. It wasn’t like, I’m doing this for political reasons or to prove something. It was, I want to do this because it’s the right thing.

Campaign: What makes Tom the right person to stand up and fight for working families?

Arnie: Tom approaches every issue by asking, how do we bring people together in order to problem-solve and make this happen? Several years ago, the team at NextGen learned there was an effort to put a new gas-fired power plant in a working class, largely Latino community in Oxnard. We brought it to Tom, and it was instinctive. He dug in. He met with local electeds and folks from the community. He brought his business background and knowledge of climate and energy policy to say, what are some other options, as opposed to jamming this gas-fired power plant down the throats of a community that doesn’t want it? He went into full-blown advocacy and community partner mode, putting a team of experts together and bringing folks from the community up to Sacramento to testify in front of the energy commission. We ultimately stopped it—and I attribute a lot of that to him.

You know, one of the difficulties of this campaign is that you cannot capture everything that Tom and his wife Kat are doing and have done. You just can’t. People should know he has a real policy track record steeped in the values of equity and justice. That means a lot to someone like me who has also been doing this type of policy work for a long time. Tom is someone who you want to ride into these battles with.

Dan: Tom will hold people accountable and say, we cannot be letting middle of the road politicians and conservative companies argue there aren’t enough bankable projects in pro-justice settings, whether it’s for fence-line communities, communities that have been historically overpolluted, women-headed households—a whole variety of things.

I think Tom would appoint the right people to his Cabinet and would push them to make that agenda real. And Tom definitely has the track record. I mean his taking on the utilities is not going to be popular, even with some people on the left. But that’s got to happen. And that’s the story of what Tom would do. His plans speak to a non-billionaire’s agenda as governor. Even Californians who don’t support Tom will have to grudgingly say, “Yeah, this is actually the right agenda.”

Campaign: What would you say to people concerned about voting for a billionaire?

Dan: My whole professional career has been tied up around energy and justice. And Tom is in the category of thoughtful, generous, engaged billionaires. Just look at what he’s done around school lunches, housing issues, loopholes for billionaires. He will fight for a wealth tax despite the fact that, you know, it’s going to be super unpopular with high-end donors. The U.S. has to figure out a way to get back to a less unequal society, and Tom will be a champion for that. If you become a billionaire and you can make that central, you are in fact using your privilege for good.

Arnie: If you would just listen to his words and you took off the table that this guy is a high net worth individual, what would you think? And I think where you would arrive is, this guy has the same value set that I have. This guy is genuinely motivated to try to make a difference for me and my family. I’ve worked in Sacramento for a long time and I know what it takes to get things done. There’s no doubt in my mind that Tom is the right person at the right time. When you work with people that you know are in it for the right reasons, I mean, you’ll run through a brick wall for them. And that’s the way I feel.

Campaign: How can voters be sure Tom is sincere? That he won’t change his tune the moment he’s elected?

Dan: It’s the school lunches, it’s the investing in teachers, it’s the solarizing schools. All of those things are long-term interests of his. He’s spoken out for them. These are things he’s worked on for a long time. This is not some billionaire who is going to push a personally aggrandizing agenda.

Arnie: Tom has a real sense of: to whom much is given, much is required. I really think he leans into that, both in his professional and personal life. It’s not always seen or touted. It’s just who he is and what he does. He has provided support to people affected by wildfires. He has worked through NextGen to provide grants to organizations providing immigrant legal defense. When the Legacy Museum opened up in Montgomery Alabama, he made sure that a cohort of African-American staffers and kids could go see it. There’s a town in California called Allensworth that was established by former slaves, and Tom and Kat have spent a fair amount of time helping that town stay flourishing. There’s not a whole lot of fanfare when they do this stuff. They’re not looking for pats on the back.

Campaign: Is there anything that has surprised you about Tom in the years that you’ve known him?

Arnie: For 30-plus years now, Tom and a widening circle of his friends get together to celebrate the holidays. I mean, these are folks from high school and college and his professional life—people that have known Tom forever. And they ask you to bring a poem to read. I haven’t gotten the courage to read a poem just yet, but it’s a pretty powerful setting. There’s a lot of camaraderie. It gives you a little bit of insight into how much he values friendship.

Dan: Him dancing to “Back That Azz Up” on stage with Juvenile during the South Carolina primary. He’s a fun person. I remember thinking, this is a real guy on the campaign trail.

Over the next few days, we’ll be doing something a little different. Instead of hearing from Tom himself, we’re turning his Substack over to the people who know him best so you can hear from them directly. We want to give you a glimpse into the Tom we know—not the candidate, the billionaire, the businessman—but the person we’ve all come to know and respect.

And who better to tell us than his own kids? We asked Sam, Henry, and Gus* about their dad’s quirks, his mottos for life, and the things that light him up (spoiler alert: it’s the Pacific Ocean). Let’s just say, we knew Tom was the right person to lead California before we talked to his kids—and we’re even more certain of it now.

TS Campaign: It’s got to be kind of tough watching your dad get discussed in public. People are saying things about him that don’t necessarily reflect the person you know. What do you wish more Californians knew about your dad?

Sam: I don’t mind people being critical of my dad. I think that’s par for the course. But I wish they knew how idealistic my dad is. He is a very earnest, morally driven person. And I think people assume that, as a businessperson, he’s doing these cynical or calculated things. And he really isn’t. He really is trying to do what he thinks is right.

TS Campaign: Can you give us some examples of that?

Sam: I’ll give you a couple. When I was about ten years old, my dad and I were in San Francisco. And he bought one of those newspapers that unhoused people used to sell. But he didn’t just buy the paper and walk away. He stayed and chatted. And I remember that being really impactful for me. He was always finding ways to show us, you may be a privileged kid, but you aren’t apart from anyone. You don’t get to look past anyone.

And then I’d say another example was, when he was becoming kind of a famous person in the business world, he went out of his way to downplay it; to make sure I knew that making money wasn’t the most important thing to him; that being successful wasn’t the most important thing to him. And that, if anything, he was eager to dedicate himself fully to public service.

TS Campaign: Does your dad have any quirks? What is he like off the campaign trail?

Sam: There was a period where every year at Christmas he would give each of us a nice white button down shirt. He’d be really proud and say: What’s something you can really use? A clean, nice, white button down shirt. Have you guys ever thought about that? And I’d be like, yes, I thought about it last Christmas when you gave me the same present. He gave us white button down shirts every Christmas for five years in a row.

Gus: There was also the year he gave us those strange fedora hats.

Henry: Yeah, he sometimes gets us gifts that make no sense. Once, he got me a jasper-carved armadillo for my birthday. I was probably 20 years old and I was in my room playing video games with my two best friends. And he came in super excited, handed it to me, and then just left the room. And we’re like, what? But his excitement was infectious.

Another quirk that gives us a great amount of joy is, him and our sister will go back and forth quoting old poems and books. But for some reason when it comes to great movie quotes, they don’t stick in his head. But he loves them, so he’ll just very enthusiastically say something that is just not at all what the movie quote was. The most common one is, “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius” from Gladiator. He just butchers the whole thing.

Gus: He would reuse a lot of our clothes. In particular, there’s a shirt that Henry got at summer camp that said “Playaz Only” on the back. Remember that one? He would just wear it around.

Sam: Three years later we would see him at an event and he’d be wearing that shirt.

TS Campaign: What was your dad like as a parent?

Sam: He was very committed to us having to make our own decisions. When I was a junior in college, I did an investment banking summer internship and I got an offer to come back full time. I went to my dad and I was like, you’ve worked in finance. Should I do this? And he was very committed to not telling me what to do. When I ended up not doing it, he was all, you definitely shouldn’t have done it. And I was like, why didn’t you tell me that? But he always wanted us to learn to make our own decisions.

Gus: And if you made commitments or choices, there was a sense that you had to honor those. When I was in third or fourth grade, my two best friends and I went to camp. And I got homesick immediately. So I was sending back letters saying take me home, I hate it here. But my parents said, you can’t quit halfway through a commitment. You said you would go, and you have to honor your commitments.

TS Campaign: What are your dad’s hobbies? What does he like to do in his spare time?

Sam: He plays tennis every day. He plays soccer. He has run marathons with my mom. He just loves sports and being outdoors. Body surfing. Hiking.

He also reads like crazy. He watches a lot of westerns. And he just has a lot of friends. He’s a very social guy. He still has a bunch of friends from when he was a kid. For 30 something years, he’s been hosting this holiday lunch for his friends. Everyone brings a poem to read.

Gus: Yeah. He watches those westerns religiously.

Sam: You are named Gus after Augustus McCrae from Lonesome Dove.

Gus: Yeah, exactly.

Henry: When he’s not running for governor, he also goes to church once or twice a week, and enjoys it. He speaks quite frequently at church.

Gus: He loves hiking. I think he has almost a romantic-era idea of the outdoors and the majesty of it. If he can see the Pacific Ocean, he’ll just stand in front of it and go, Oh, that’s amazing!

Henry (imitating Tom): The greatest ocean in the world!

Gus: He says that all the time.

Henry: It’s unfortunate.

Sam: Is that like a Rolling Stones joke?

But yeah, he loves the outdoors. There are these really cool red and yellow oily stones in Lake Tahoe called jaspers. And he sometimes carries jaspers with him in his pocket at work to remind him of the natural world.

TS Campaign: What has made you most proud of your dad in this campaign?

Gus: His commitment to his principles to me is very impressive. He’s been working on climate issues for a long time. But I think we’re in a moment in politics when climate is not necessarily a hot issue. And he continues to prioritize it even though it might not be politically advantageous. I also think he saw very early on the dangers to our democracy posed by this administration. A lot of politicians just ride the wave of the zeitgeist, and then look back and try to explain what happened. But I think my dad has been very principled.

Sam: I totally agree with that. I mean, in general I think it’s been an amazing campaign. Every issue is complicated and has a lot of nuance. So it’s very easy for politicians to take a high level stance on something without actually explaining what they’ll do. But my dad deals in the real world. He figures things out granularly and realistically enough to actually accomplish the goal.

When he was on the Volts podcast with Dave Roberts, they talked for an hour about how to reduce electricity prices. My dad was so in the weeds about the three big investor-owned utilities in California—what return on equity they had gotten in their latest rate case, how much you could cut it, how much money it would save people, and how the incentive structure works. The difference between that and just being like, I’m for lower electricity rates is huge.

I also have three kids and my oldest is five and he had his preschool graduation yesterday. And 12 days before the election, my dad was there from 9:00am to 1:00pm, just spending time with my son and supporting the family. I think that’s a real testament to his character.

TS Campaign: Are there any dad jokes, Tom-isms, or things your dad says regularly that are sort of his calling card?

Henry: He has so many nicknames for everybody. For Gus: Chumba Wumba, Gubsta G. For Sam: Samo, Samwise, Samwise Gamgee. For Evi: Bevski, Bevilinski, Ev Bev. For me, Henri, Enrique or Henski. He doesn’t call any of us by our name.

He also does the thing where he kind of comes up and shadow boxes with you.

Sam: When we were kids, he invented these characters, Benny the Bullfrog and Newton the newt. They had very strong New York accents. Do you guys remember this?

Henry: Yeah, very well.

Sam: He has a lot of catchphrases. He loves to say, Looking good. Billy Ray! when he sees someone. Or if you’re going somewhere he’ll say, Lead on McDuff! And then I finally saw Macbeth in high school or something and I think it’s actually, Lay on, McDuff.

Henry: We get shushed at restaurants sometimes because our dad and Evi are singing too loudly, which has happened multiple times.

Gus: He loves “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Sam: He and my mom have hosted a Christmas Eve dinner with the same people for my whole life. And they were always like, what Christmas Carol does everyone want to hear? And then they play Battle Hymn of the Republic. I’m like, it’s really not a Christmas carol.

Also, when my oldest son was younger, he was really into Paw Patrol. And the villain of Paw Patrol is this evil, incompetent mayor named Mayor Humdinger. And my dad joined us for Halloween one year dressed as Mayor Humdinger. (Pausing) As governor, he’d be very different.

Gus: I don’t know if he intends this as a catch phrase, but he has a thing where, after you’re hanging out with someone or you’re just discussing someone, he’ll say, “He’s such an ace! He’s a real ace!”

Henry: The funniest thing is he says it about people he’s known for 15 years. It’ll be my best friend since I was five years old. I’m like, what do you mean?!?

TS Campaign: Any final thoughts?

Sam: Just that my dad loves California so much. He thinks California is the best place in the world. He is obsessed with how positive and generous and earnest Californians are. He loves to tell stories about how Californians are better at hiking than New Yorkers. He talks about how Berkeley was the most important university of the 20^th century. He just really loves California.

*Evi, the fourth Steyer sibling, cannot currently participate in state-level political activities given her current professional obligations. She worked closely with Tom in the climate finance world for many years before he commenced his gubernatorial campaign.

And I get it. This is a political campaign. But voters should make informed decisions about who the next governor of California should be, and they can only do that if they have all the facts.

So, I want you to hear directly from me. Here are my honest answers to the five most common myths about me.

Myth #1: A billionaire can’t fight for progressive causes.

Fact: I use my fortune to fight for working people.

I understand why people are skeptical of billionaires. But I’m not that guy—the one buying yachts, flying on private jets, and using my money to try and lower my own taxes. That’s because no amount of money can change how I was raised. My mother was a teacher in prisons. My father was a lawyer who served in the U.S. Navy and prosecuted Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg. I was raised to care about people, to give back, and to leave the world better than I found it.

That’s why my wife Kat and I were among the first to sign the Giving Pledge, promising to give the vast majority of our wealth away during our lifetimes. To date, we’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars fighting for progressive causes like climate protections, immigrant legal services, and public education. And because I don’t need their money, I’m not beholden to corporate interests. Judging by what they’re spending to beat me, that makes them pretty nervous.

Myth #2: I made my fortune from private prisons.

Fact: The firm I founded—and left nearly 15 years ago—briefly invested in a private prison. We were fully divested within two years.

In 2004, Farallon Capital—the firm I founded in 1986—invested in a private prison company. It was one of thousands of investments and represented a small fraction of the firm’s overall portfolio. But as we learned from communities about the role of private prisons in fueling mass incarceration, we made the decision to wind down our position. By early 2006, we were fully divested.

Let me be crystal clear: This investment was a mistake. It was one of the reasons I left the firm in 2012 to pursue work more aligned to my values. I do not invest in private prisons, ICE detention facilities, or anything similar. Instead, I’ve deliberately directed resources toward addressing the harms of mass incarceration. I backed Prop 57, which gave tens of thousands of incarcerated people a chance to earn time off their sentences and made it harder to prosecute children as adults. I was also a supporter of Prop 62, which would have abolished the death penalty in California. Through Beneficial State Bank, the community bank I founded with my wife Kat, we work with CROP Organization to provide free financial education to formerly incarcerated individuals re-entering their communities. I’ve also donated more than $3M to support immigrant legal services nationwide. These and other efforts have earned me the endorsement of the criminal justice reform group Smart Justice.

I’m proud of having built a successful business. But I’m prouder of having left it to do work that truly matters. As governor, I’ll prosecute ICE agents and their leadership when they break the law, including abuse at detention centers. I will also appoint a special investigator to investigate ICE and hold them accountable. That’s why Trump’s head of the Department of Homeland Security has come after me. I don’t care. ICE is acting like a criminal organization and it must be abolished.

Myth #3: I shelter money in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying taxes.

Fact: I pay U.S. and California taxes on all of my income. Period.

I do not hold personal bank accounts in the Cayman Islands. I do invest in funds based outside of the U.S., which is how many funds are structured. These funds are managed by third-parties who independently decide where the funds will be based. But I pay U.S. and California taxes on any and all income that flows to me from those investments.

The idea that I’m stashing money away to avoid paying taxes defies logic. Just think about it. I’m giving the vast majority of my money away, and I’m also the only major candidate in this race who actually supports taxing billionaires like me more.

Myth #4: I don’t have political experience.

Fact: I have more than 15 years experience getting things done for the people of California—even when the career politicians couldn’t.

I not only built a thriving business here in California from the ground up, but I have also been the driving force behind some of California’s most important progressive wins. Here’s just a sample of what I’ve already helped deliver for our state.

• In 2010, I co-chaired a successful campaign to stop oil companies from rolling back California’s climate laws, helping protect and grow the state’s clean energy economy and preserve hundreds of thousands of jobs.

• In 2012, I co-led and funded Proposition 39, which closed corporate tax loopholes. The measure has generated billions for California schools, including funding energy efficiency upgrades and creating thousands of jobs.

• In 2016, I served as co-chair and primary funder of Proposition 56, a tobacco tax initiative that now delivers $1 billion annually for healthcare, particularly supporting Medi-Cal and public health programs.

• I served as Chief Advisor to Governor Newsom’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery, helping shape California’s post-pandemic economic strategy with an emphasis on equity and job creation.

• I founded one of the largest youth-focused civic engagement organizations in the country, mobilizing over 1.6 million young voters around climate, economic, and social justice issues.

• I pushed to make California the first state in the country to provide free school breakfast and lunches for every child in the state. The program now serves more than 5 million meals a day to students statewide.

In other words, I’m not some Johnny-come-lately to policy and governance. I’ve run a successful business and gotten results in Sacramento when the real politicians couldn’t. And I’ll draw from these experiences to make California a healthier, more affordable place to live.

Myth #5: My campaign pays content creators for their endorsements.

Fact: We have never paid anyone for an endorsement, creator or otherwise.

We’ve never paid for an endorsement, and we never will. If creators chose to work with our campaign, it’s because they believe in my vision: a California that works for working people again.

We are running a campaign designed to reach Californians where they actually are. In 2026, creators are a central part of how people communicate, learn, organize, and understand the world around them. Paying creators for their work is not some radical idea. Our opponents, like Xavier Becerra, certainly do. The difference is that while we’re operating openly and transparently, they’re doing it indirectly, through consultants and shadowy groups that voters never get to see clearly.

Our campaign believes in transparency; it’s central to how we’ve operated since day one. Every dollar spent by this campaign is publicly disclosed and available for anyone to see. We’re the only campaign in the race that can say the following honestly: No dark money, no hidden shell organizations, no secret networks, and no Big Oil money. We have nothing to hide.

This transparency extends to our engagement with creators. We compensate them for their work and their time, just like campaigns pay staff, consultants, media firms, strategists, and vendors across every part of politics. Every creator we compensate has been and will be publicly disclosed as required by law.

You can read more about how my campaign works with content creators here.

Our campaign believes in transparency; it’s central to how we’ve operated since day one. Every dollar spent by this campaign is publicly disclosed and available for anyone to see. We’re the only campaign in the race that can say the following honestly: No dark money, no hidden shell organizations, no secret networks, and no Big Oil money. We have nothing to hide.

This transparency extends to our engagement with creators. We compensate them for their work and their time, just like campaigns pay staff, consultants, media firms, strategists, and vendors across every part of politics. Every creator we compensate has been and will be publicly disclosed as required by law.

We’ve never paid for an endorsement, and we never will. If creators chose to work with our campaign, it’s because they believe healthcare should be a basic human right. They believe people who work full time should be able to afford a home. They believe billionaires and massive corporations should not keep rigging the rules while ordinary people struggle to survive in one of the richest places on earth. They believe California can actually work again for working people.

Other campaigns seem to prefer talking about creators than talking about why California has become unaffordable for millions of families. Maybe because they would rather attack the messengers than answer for their own records. And maybe because campaigns that are built around the old political order are deeply uncomfortable with a new generation of campaigns that operate openly and transparently.

That includes Xavier Becerra. Instead of explaining his ties to Chevron, his reversals on single-payer healthcare, or his failures as a career politician, he would rather attack our campaign for building actual relationships with voters.

He can run his race. We’re going to run ours. That means we’ll keep talking to Californians directly. Our campaign was never built for the political establishment. It was built for the people who feel like nobody in power has been fighting for them for a very long time.

And we are not going backwards. Not in how we communicate. Not in who we fight for. And not in our vision for what California can become.

Onward,

Tom

Banks have a bad rap. And for good reason.

For decades, big banks have contributed to the staggering concentration of wealth and power we see in America today. Most continue to invest in, and lend to, harmful industries like fossil fuels and guns. And many are complicit in the long-standing exclusion of vulnerable communities, even decades after the end of official redlining.

Access to capital—whether through a bank, your family, or other community resources—is critical for upward mobility. It’s how we build wealth. That’s especially true of home ownership, which has historically been the single most important way for people to build intergenerational wealth. Yet for decades, Black and Brown families were systematically denied loans, limiting the home ownership and wealth accumulation that others could take for granted.

That’s why, in 2007, my wife Kat and I set out to design a different kind of bank, one that lends its capital ethically, guided by the needs of the planet and the communities it serves. We founded Beneficial State Bank on the principle that today’s banks can help address the disparities caused by redlining and persistent underinvestment in communities of color.

Headquartered in Oakland, California, Beneficial State Bank operates on a triple bottom line, equally prioritizing people, the planet, and long-term financial sustainability. And because the bank’s majority owner is the Beneficial State Foundation, a nonprofit organization, it is permanently governed in the public interest.

Our lending portfolios are intentionally designed to address historical wrongs. The vast majority of the Bank’s capital is invested in low-to-moderate income communities that have historically been excluded from the American financial system. We also avoid lending that is likely to have a negative environmental or social impact. 75 percent of our loans must be proactively beneficial. Zero percent of them can be harmful.

Here are a few examples of how we put this model into practice.

As of the end of 2024, we held more than $170 million in outstanding loans and commitments to environmental initiatives—things like renewable energy, green buildings, environmental advocacy, and natural resource protection.

One of our flagship projects that year was helping public agencies implement lower energy solar solutions. These entities often face a double bind: unpredictable utility prices make it difficult to plan for the long term; but high upfront costs put energy-efficient infrastructure out of reach.

Beneficial State Bank provided a total combined $1 million loan to support two projects, one in the Sacramento Valley and another in the southern San Joaquin Valley. With the Bank’s support and a partnership with White Pine Renewables, these communities were able to accelerate the deployment of solar power where it was needed most.

Since 2007, our environmental portfolio as a whole has helped avoid nearly 26,000 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent.

On the housing side, Beneficial State Bank has spent nearly two decades serving communities abandoned by Wall Street and dismantling the legacy of redlining and disinvestment. To date, we have financed over 17,000 affordable housing units.

Among the projects we’ve financed are the Normandie Apartments in Los Angeles, which provide more than 50 supportive housing units to formerly unhoused people. Through a partnership with the Coalition for Responsible Community Development, residents receive wraparound services like health screening and crisis management.

These are just two examples of how Beneficial State Bank’s values-based model is delivering results. We’ve also supported financial literacy programs for formerly-incarcerated populations, helped working families afford their first car, and secured financing for small businesses that have been turned away by the big banks. In 2024, we issued $18 million in loans to small businesses. Our goal isn’t just to help people in the short-term, but to drive economic mobility over the longer term.

This model represents a wholesale rewiring of the relationship between banks and the communities they serve. Equity and sustainability are part of our operational north star. They help determine how we allocate capital, which projects we finance, and which investments we make. We now have branches in California, Oregon, and Washington.

Twenty years ago, Kat and I set out to build a bank that was self-sustaining and ethical, doing its part to correct the historical wrongs that denied so many working families the chance to build a better life. Twenty years later, that’s still our vision.

California is the birthplace of the film and entertainment industry. For decades, the industry has employed hundreds of thousands of people and sustained whole communities. More than that, California’s entertainment industry defines the soul of our state. The stories we tell here shape art and culture the world over.

But a thriving entertainment industry will not survive if Californians can’t afford to live here.

Actors, writers, technicians, sound engineers, costume designers, makeup artists and other creatives are the lifeblood of our entertainment industry. They write the lines we quote, craft the worlds we escape into, and create the moments we can’t shake. And right now many of them are fighting for their livelihoods—living project-to-project or gig-to-gig.

Total shoot days in Los Angeles plummeted in 2025, dropping 16 percent from the previous year and falling more than 36 percent below the five-year average. According to the Labor Department, the number of film and television industry workers in Los Angeles County declined from 142,000 to about 100,000 by the end of 2024. That’s a 30 percent drop, with no relief in sight. Impossibly high rents and limited worker protections only make things worse.

My campaign is all about lowering costs for Californians, whether it’s building a million affordable homes over the next four years, expanding tax credits to make rent affordable again, reducing electricity bills by 25 percent, or single-payer health care.

But the entertainment industry also needs targeted relief. As Governor, I will do whatever it takes to preserve and advance California’s leadership as the artistic and creative powerhouse of the world.

Here’s my ten-point plan:

Block corporate mergers and stop media monopolies.

Consolidation hurts working people and limits creative freedom, and this threat will only worsen with the rise of AI. A recent study found that AI could further entrench market power in the hands of fewer distributors.

I’ll firmly oppose megamergers, like Warner Bros-Paramount, that enrich executives and shareholders at the direct expense of working people. I am also the only candidate for governor with a plan to make AI work for working people, families, and our kids. As Governor, I’ll support policies that protect jobs and ensure that Hollywood remains a place where independent media and creators are nurtured, celebrated, and rewarded.

Defend and expand our tax credit program.

I refuse to let California get outbid or outmaneuvered by other states and other countries. Californians shouldn’t have to travel halfway around the world to work in the industry we invented.

I’ll make sure the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program, which has created nearly 200,000 jobs, is the most competitive in the world. Those tax credits not only enable us to compete on cost with other states and countries around the world, but they are also crucial investments that return far more money than we put into them. To give the industry a further boost, I’ll also expand the California Film Commission’s ability to provide additional resources and support.

Eliminate bureaucratic hurdles.

It has become too cumbersome to build and create in California. As Governor, I will cut through red tape across the state, making it easier for producers to keep their schedules on track—especially in a tight-budget era.

Stop AI from robbing creators and performers from getting rewarded for their work.

The 2023 Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists agreement was an important breakthrough, making sure creators and performers get paid for their work and control their creations and likeness. Similarly, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) 2024 contract agreements included a pioneering provision for labor that declared any work of an employee who utilizes or oversees the use of AI is considered covered work. Protecting those rights should be the law in California.

Expand funding for training and apprenticeships in the entertainment sector.

The industry is notoriously difficult to break into, and work can be unpredictable even after getting a foot in the door. That’s why training is essential. It helps attract and retain talent, and cultivates the skilled workforce needed to support productions across California. This is especially true with the rise of AI, which threatens to displace current workers and eliminate entry-level roles. As Governor, I’ll ensure our existing workforce is upskilled and reskilled, while empowering young people from all backgrounds to pursue creative careers.

Expand state arts funding to support public arts initiatives.

A thriving creative economy goes beyond studio lots. It lives in our neighborhoods, our parks, and our public spaces. If we want to lead in the creative arts, we need to invest more in arts education for young people, and in California’s cultural infrastructure to create public art.

I’ll expand the California Arts Council and fund new public works of art that keep our talented artists and craftspeople employed right in their communities. The recent success of the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund serves as a powerful model for how the state can directly support small, local organizations and their workers. I’ll build upon this innovative first step to ensure our community theaters and independent live performance spaces have the sustained resources they need to thrive.

Work with national leaders to champion California’s film and entertainment industry around the globe.

Under my leadership, California will lead the push for federal incentives that work hand-in-hand with state programs to promote our creative sector abroad and protect production at home.

Defend live performance venues from being squeezed out of existence.

Venues are the bedrock of California’s creative landscape, but skyrocketing overhead costs and predatory corporations threaten the very foundation that supports the next generation of artists. Despite driving billions of dollars into California’s economy, and supporting tens of thousands of jobs, nearly 70 percent of these historic, independent stages are currently struggling to turn a profit.

To preserve California’s rich artistic history, I’ll champion common-sense solutions that lower operating costs for independent venues, protect our workers and artists, and break the grip of the monopolies driving them out of business. I’ll treat this sector as exactly what it is: the essential infrastructure of our creative economy.

Crack down on exorbitant ticket fees and price gouging.

Live entertainment not only connects people with the artists who enrich our lives, but it also enables artists to make a living through the magic they create on stage. But as usual, corporate monopolies are getting in the way.

The recent federal court ruling against Live Nation and Ticketmaster proves that states have the power to successfully take on live-event corporations. As Governor, I’ll support aggressive state-level antitrust enforcement and use state law to crack down on market manipulation by ticketers—using Maine’s landmark 2025 ticketing transparency law as a model. That law instituted a 10 percent cap on resale ticket markups, banned the sale of speculative tickets, and required full upfront fee disclosures.

To break up single-platform monopolies, I’ll explore requirements for any large venue receiving state support to open its platform to competing sellers, ensuring tickets are offered through two or more vendors.

Ease the day-to-day burdens that complicate operating stages.

I’ll work with local municipalities to lower business license costs and establish strong protections for long-established performing spaces. Our venues must be able to operate freely without being priced or zoned out of their own neighborhoods.

California’s identity on the global stage has always been defined by the boundless creativity of the artists, craftspeople, and technicians who call this state home. We need to treat them as the invaluable contributors to our state that they are. I’ll work fiercely to preserve California’s cultural legacy by making sure creators can make art and earn a dignified living here.

That’s what my plan is focused on. And if I have the privilege of becoming your governor, it’s the future I’ll fight for.

Over the past few months, I’ve held a series of town halls across the state. And I’ve met with all kinds of people—students and retirees, farmers and entrepreneurs, immigrants and lifelong Californians. And while each of them has a unique story, they share something in common: They’re being squeezed from every direction.

Housing is unaffordable. Electricity bills are too high. Tuition climbs every year. And too many working families are one hospital bill away from losing everything.

It’s fashionable these days for politicians to talk about affordability, but Californians need more than talk. They need real relief from high costs. As governor, I’ll be laser focused on giving it to them.

That starts with an honest question: why is everything so expensive? Part of it is market forces. Part of it is decades of underinvestment. And lately, part of it is bad policymaking by a willfully ignorant president. But the structural cause—the part that doesn’t show up in economics textbooks—is that the system is rigged to benefit the wealthy and well-connected, while working people pick up the tab.

My plan is designed to change that, across every dimension of daily life. I’ll mount a coordinated attack on high costs—on multiple fronts. Because our affordability crisis isn’t about just one thing. It’s about everything. It’s the pile-on that happens when each individual bill is higher than the last, with no end in sight.

I’ll know my plan is working when Californians can feel the difference. Not on paper. Not in some government database. But in their own homes.

To do it, I’ll tackle the bundle of expenses that most directly and routinely impact working families—basic necessities like housing, electricity, education, and health care.

Build 1 million homes over four years and fundamentally transform affordability in our state.

In California, no issue poses more of a direct threat to working families’ financial wellbeing than housing. 68 percent of Californians say housing affordability is a big problem where they live.

Yet California used to build more than twice as many units as it does now. We need to return to that historic level of production. And I have the record to prove I can do it.

As co-founder of Beneficial State Bank—a mission-driven Community Development Financial Institution—with my wife Kat Taylor, I’ve served communities abandoned by Wall Street and worked to dismantle the legacy of redlining and disinvestment. To date, we’ve financed over 17,000 affordable housing units.

I’ve also helped pass new laws to hold local governments accountable, provide permanent revenues for affordable housing programs, and streamline local zoning approvals. These tools, implemented effectively, work. And I’ll use them to ensure that when builders follow the rules, they can get building.

See my full housing plan here.

Lower Electric Bills by 25%

Fact: Electric companies are ripping us off.

Since 2019, electricity prices in California have risen nearly 50 percent – over twice the rate of inflation. Californians’ utility costs are double the national average. We pay higher rates here than in any other state in the continental United States, and yet we are still susceptible to frequent power outages and utility-caused wildfires.

This is the result of a few huge utilities having a monopoly. And because they’re monopolies, they can charge whatever they want even while delivering the worst product at the highest price. It’s unacceptable.

My plan breaks up monopoly power, brings much-needed competition to the grid, and cuts ratepayer-subsidized guaranteed returns to utility companies. It also reduces reliance on transmission lines and substations, in favor of more innovative solutions like batteries, rooftop and community solar, and microgrids. And it holds corporate utilities’ feet to the fire when they try to run a racket on Californians.

See my full utilities plan here.

Provide free education from pre-K to college

Every child in California has the fundamental right to an education, but less than a third of eighth graders are proficient in reading and math. California—the innovation hub of the world—sits in the middle of national rankings.

Despite being the richest state in America and the world’s fourth largest economy, our schools are starved of funding. When adjusted for cost of living, our public schools rank 31st in the nation for per-pupil funding.

We need to support our teachers and our schools so that they can provide the best education possible to kids. By cutting corporate tax loopholes, California can easily provide universal education starting at three years old, all the way through to free community college. This means any Californian can receive a great, free education, starting from when they walk through the doors in Pre-K to when they walk the stage at graduation.

Ensure health care for all Californians

There’s too much profit and not enough health care in our health care system. Health care spending and insurance rates continue to rise well above the rate of economic growth. The total average family premium—the combination of employer and employee costs—now exceeds $25K, and is up 52 percent over the last decade. This year, employers are expected to face their largest increase in health care costs in 15 years, with much of that cost passed to employees.

Have these costs led to healthier and happier communities? No. They’ve lined the pockets of middle-men and insurance executives, whose entire business model is to deliver the least amount of care at the highest possible cost.

The only way we’ll reduce health care costs, expand coverage, and promote public health is through a single-payer system. And I’m committed to getting California there. My plan also takes on the insurance companies gouging patients on cost of care, fights to keep hospitals open—especially in rural areas—and ensures that every Californian has access to the most advanced treatments, not just the wealthy.

Wherever I go, I meet Californians who are proud of our state. They want nothing more than to raise a family, start a business, and build a life here.

But that’s getting harder and harder to do when, at every turn, the chips are stacked against them. The relentless battle against rising costs takes a toll. It affects not only people’s pocketbooks, but also their health, their relationships, and their capacity to live the life they want. Some are wondering if the California Dream is even possible anymore.

If I’m elected governor, I’ll spend every ounce of my energy making sure the answer is yes.

I’ve made it clear: ICE must be abolished. ICE is acting like a criminal organization, carrying out indiscriminate racial profiling and using violence, intimidation, terrorism, and the murder of Americans to extend Trump’s rule by fear.

It’s not enough for Democrats to simply engage in rhetoric, and “stand” against ICE or Trump. California must build a system that fights fire with fire. To stop this authoritarian takeover, we must counter ICE head-on, and go after both their agents on the streets and their leadership within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

How do we do this? The same way we took on the mob. Put ICE agents and their leadership in jail for their crimes, because that’s how you take on a violent extremist group and win.

As Governor, I will do the following five things. Each point builds on one another to create a comprehensive strategy that gives the State of California the power it needs to take on ICE and win.

First, I will go after ICE’s modus operandi: using racial discrimination to detain, arrest, attack, and brutalize Americans. I will pass aggressive legislation that builds on current California statutes and outlaws any law enforcement agency from profiling anyone based on their race, ethnicity, language, occupation, or location. We are done letting federal badges serve as a shield for abuse in our state.

Second, I will give the state Attorney General the authority to hold ICE’s leadership accountable for violence. My plan will pursue supervisory liability. This body of law empowers the California justice system to criminally prosecute and imprison not just the ICE agents who are committing these crimes, but the leadership directing them to do so.

Third, I will appoint and fund a special investigative unit and work with the Attorney General who is specifically tasked with enforcing these California laws, including laws related to the conditions at detention facilities. This investigative unit will collect the evidence the Attorney General can use to prosecute offenders and their leadership.

Fourth, I will bring those detained and kidnapped by ICE back home by creating a much larger and stronger immigration legal defense infrastructure in our state – funding for more attorneys, investigators, and accredited representatives, as well as legal aid and law school programs—to assist and help those who have been imprisoned without due process.

Getting the thousands of unlawfully detained immigrant men, women, and children the legal representation they need is one of the most direct ways to defend them from deportation. Data show that 62 percent of immigrants without a lawyer are ordered deported, compared to 27 percent of those who have legal assistance.

Backed by expanded protections against racial profiling, legal representation empowers detained individuals to report ICE’s crimes to the special investigator and California’s Attorney General, and take the agents to court.

And Fifth, I will launch a massive statewide “Know Your Rights” public education and public awareness campaign. Every Californian, regardless of their immigration status, should know their constitutional and legal rights if you are stopped, detained, or questioned by ICE agents, if you are assembled to protest against ICE, if you are filming ICE agent activities, or if you witness unlawful and illegal actions perpetrated by ICE agents.

There is a solid legal foundation for California to expand these protections and prosecute ICE agents for breaking the law. In July 2025, Judge Frimpong of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California placed significant restrictions on President Trump’s efforts to ramp up immigrant arrests to achieve his pledge of mass deportations.

Judge Frimpong ordered ICE agents to not rely exclusively on four specific factors to meet the legal standard of “reasonable suspicion” for making a stop: race or ethnicity, language spoken, occupation, and location (the four outlined above). But these restrictions were overruled by the Supreme Court in September 2025.

So California should take matters into our own hands. California can extend these legal protections to its residents, despite the federal government’s failure.

In America, our system of government allows states to step in when the federal government fails to do its job. Leading constitutional law scholars have argued that states can and should prosecute ICE agents for breaking their laws. And in the United States v. California (C.D. Cal. 2/9/26), Judge Snyder made clear that California can regulate ICE agents, so long as the law applies to state and local police as well.

This is about our right as a state to protect our residents. Trump’s Attorney General refuses to protect our constitutional rights, so the state of California can and must go further to protect the rights of Californians.

Extending these protections is a major step forward. It targets the linchpin that holds together the entire ICE machine: their ability to weaponize their authority as federal agents to engage in racial profiling and racial violence.

In a functioning democracy, the Attorney General of the United States would prosecute these cases. Under Trump, the United States is not a fully functioning democracy, exercising all the constitutional, legislative, and judicial checks and balances the founding fathers put in place—but California still is and always will be.

Trump has turned ICE into a criminal enterprise, so let’s treat it as such. As governor, I’ll go after ICE the way Eliot Ness and Joe Friday went after the Mob: bring them to justice by using their most basic crimes against them. For the Mob it was racketeering; for ICE it’s racial discrimination.

On my watch, California will protect the most vulnerable and bring to justice those who break the law and brutalize our neighbors. We’ll let ICE know: in California, you obey our laws and respect our residents, or you go to jail.

Donald Trump’s address last week made one thing very clear: He is doubling down on failure. It’s not surprising that he is too scared and too arrogant to be honest about where we are—where his hubris has gotten us.

But the numbers do not lie: He’s asking for $200 billion of American taxpayer money to burn on a war no one asked for, half a world away. That number matters, especially when Trump claims, as he did last week, that, “We don’t have the money for daycare; we don’t have the money for Medicaid. We don’t have the money for Medicare because we’re fighting wars.”

He’s purporting to do math, but he’s solving for the wrong variable. His failure here only highlights how vitally important it is that leaders know how to look at the numbers and find the truth—to look directly at what we’re investing in and understand how decisions they make will deliver results for the people they represent.

That’s the question I’ve been asking my entire career.

I’ve managed and invested tens of billions of dollars throughout my career, and I’ve done so in nearly every conceivable economic environment. My job was to deliver value for my partners, which included public pension funds, retirement funds, and university endowments. I was accountable for getting measurable, tangible results, every year, for decades.

You might ask yourself, reasonably, why the next governor of California should have that kind of experience.

I think of it this way: When you do that kind of work for long enough, you come to understand how the global economy works—how events around the world impact markets, and how governments should react to protect their people. You also begin understanding what is true, and what is bluster, propaganda, marketing, and other nonsense.

Just look at what Trump’s war in Iran is costing Californians. The price of gasoline at the pump has gone up by $1.50, and will continue to rise.

The price of oil went up $10 a barrel this week—impacting the price of not just gas, but diesel for trucks, and feedstock for industrial goods, including plastic—and for the fifth week in a row, mortgage rates went up in California. The S&P 500 is down 4% since January 1st.

And as farmers up and down California enter planting season, sowing the seeds of crops that will feed millions of Americans, they’re short on fertilizer—because more than one million tons are trapped in the Persian Gulf. That means that come harvest season, the cost of food will go up dramatically. Trump’s war has nothing to do with what’s good for America and its allies, and everything to do with Trump and his family.

These consequences should surprise no one: Starting a war with no plan, in a place that 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through, is hardly a recipe for great economic outcomes.

As a leader, you have to be able to anticipate the effects of your decisions—both in the immediate aftermath and in the months and years to come.

But let’s be clear: This isn’t an argument for running the government like a business. We’ve seen, time and again, the disastrous consequences of taking a laissez faire approach to governing, to prioritizing efficiency above all else.

This is instead an argument for being clear about what you value, and making the decisions that will deliver meaningful results. That’s exactly what I’ve spent my career doing. And it’s why, in fact, I left business to pursue advocacy over a decade ago: I wanted to invest my time and energy in a better future for California, not a firm.

Fundamentally, investing is about predicting the future. That’s hard—but not for the reasons you might think. Many people assume that successful investors are daredevils —taking long-shot chances that turn large profits through a combination of incredible luck and skill. But in my experience, you don’t get credit for degree of difficulty. You’re not measured by one trade, one year, or even five years. You’re measured over decades, and your ability to deliver value year after year, consistently, safely, and reliably. No matter what’s going on in the world, you are expected to perform.

Taking wild risks and hoping they pay off isn’t investing—it’s gambling. The real work of a good investor is in identifying the sure things that, for whatever reason, others overlook.

Put a different way: A very good investor is a very good bullshit detector.

And at a moment when Donald Trump, one of the greatest bullshit artists of all time, is driving our economy into the ground, it’s never been more important to elect people who will call him out and push back effectively. It’s never been more important to elect people who will be good stewards of your tax dollars, and who will make decisions with your future at the front of their mind.

That’s the kind of governor I will be. That’s why I’m running.

Look, anyone can spout off a bunch of rhetoric—and my opponents, nearly all career politicians, are doing that every day. I’m not interested in rhetoric. I’m interested in seeing the numbers. I’m interested in creating value for my partners.

And if I’m elected governor, those partners will be the people of California. I’ll work hard, day in and day out, to deliver the results they deserve.

On February 18, Chris Wright, the oil-and-gas executive and Trump campaign donor serving as Energy Secretary, told Americans not to worry about a spike in fuel prices if the U.S. went to war with Iran. Six days later—and just four days before the war began—President Trump used his State of the Union Address to brag about low gas prices. That same day, the White House proclaimed that “American Energy Dominance is Back,” bragging that Trump’s “Drill Baby Drill agenda” was “driving economic growth, lowering costs for families, and enhancing national security.”

Can we finally agree that these people have no idea what they’re talking about?

We were told expanding fossil fuel drilling would protect us from economic shocks tied to Middle East instability. Instead, in just two weeks: the largest three-day gas price surge since 2005, a 25 percent jump in diesel, and what the IEA called “the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.”

It’s unclear what President Trump is trying to accomplish with his war. But it’s clear what he’s already achieved: dealing another massive blow to families across California and America, who are already struggling with the skyrocketing cost of living.

The administration has scrambled to respond—lifting sanctions on Russia, releasing hundreds of millions of barrels from global reserves, and deploying the Navy to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

As anyone who’s filled up their car in the past week can tell you, none of it has worked.

But this crisis is about more than just the Trump Administration’s incompetence. It’s about the profound foolishness of an energy policy that prioritized oil company profits over affordability for Americans. “Drill Baby Drill” was, and still is, another act of right-wing class warfare—lining the pockets of political donors while sticking working families with the bill.

For decades, oil dependence has tied American families to volatile global markets. Trump’s answer was simple: produce more at home. And we did, reaching record production and becoming a net energy exporter.

Doubling down on fossil fuels was supposed to lead to more stability for American businesses and lower prices for American families. The Iran War has tested the “Drill Baby Drill” theory—and proved that it doesn’t work. Like it or not, we’re still part of the global economy: when oil prices rise around the world, gas prices rise here at home. Higher fuel costs ripple through the economy, raising prices on food, goods, and nearly everything Americans buy.

It didn’t have to be this way. While President Trump was illegally cancelling wind and solar projects, which he attacked as “expensive and unreliable,” countries like China were doubling down on investments in renewable energy. Not out of environmental idealism, but because renewable energy is cheaper and more secure.

Somehow, the Trump administration looks at the chaos unfolding around the world and still manages to pat itself on the back. As recently as Friday, the president’s team was crowing about “The White House’s energy triumph.”

If this is a triumph, imagine what a disaster would look like.

Then again, it’s possible that the Trump White House sincerely believes its policies are working—for the people it cares about. Fossil fuel executives donated $1 billion to President Trump’s campaign. Rising oil prices are making them richer than ever. If you’re an oil and gas company, this war is great for you. If you’re Putin or his oligarchs, this war is great for you. If you’re Jared Kushner, whose private equity company is reportedly seeking a $5 billion investment from oil giant Saudi Arabia, this war is great for you.

Meanwhile, if you’re an ordinary California family trying to make ends meet, you’re getting screwed.

Our dependence on fossil fuels won’t end overnight. Neither will the presidency of a man who calls affordability “a made-up word” and gives himself an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus” on the economy. But working people can’t afford to wait for the rest of us to start fixing the problems that President Trump created.

The same people who promised “Drill Baby Drill” would prevent a crisis now say we can drill our way out of one. We’ve heard enough. Our energy policy has prioritized Trump’s donors and allies long enough.

It’s time for energy policy that puts working families first.

There are some movie scenes that you see and never forget.

The moment in E.T. when Elliott and his friends lift off of the ground and into the air, soaring together on their bikes above Granada Hills. The iconic rooftop chase scene at the beginning of Vertigo, filmed above Taylor Street in Nob Hill, the gloomy haze of San Francisco rising in the background. Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda tearing down Route 66 on motorcycles in the opening scene of Easy Rider as Steppenwolf plays.

This is the power of the movies. They make us feel, make us think, and transcend boundaries to bring us together. They allow us to tell our own story back to ourselves—and as our number one cultural export, they tell a story about America to the rest of the world.

For more than a century, movies have been made possible by human brains doing what human brains do best, right here in the state of California. Hollywood and the millions of workers who power our entertainment industry have made us the cultural capital of the world—and as governor, I’ll make sure it stays that way.

Here’s how I’ll do it.

I’ll Expand Film Tax Credits and Cut Red Tape to Make it Easier to Create in California.

Consider what it takes to make a movie.

Writers, actors, producers, directors, to be sure. But also production crews—grips, gaffers, production assistants. Cameras, costumers, animators. Craft services, wranglers, script supervisors, medics, location managers, propmasters, and set designers. Massive post-production teams of editors and sound engineers.

Every movie that comes out of our state is an incredible feat—an act of community, a shared labor of love, and a driver of working class livelihoods all around our state.

And that’s why I’ll work to make sure production can continue in California, with substantial tax credits and a renewed commitment to unionized labor. The expanded California Film and Television Tax Credit program is working—it helped keep local production afloat late last year—but we’ve got to do more to reverse the devastating loss of entertainment jobs in Los Angeles and around California.

And financial subsidies alone won’t be enough to get it done—we’ve got to also make it quicker and easier to film in Los Angeles. We’ve got to cut local red tape, waive arbitrary fees for small shoots, and eliminate outdated restrictions so productions aren’t forced to leave the state. That’s exactly what I’ll do. Because when the entertainment industry thrives, California thrives.

I’ll Make Sure AI Doesn’t Replace Human Creativity.

Last week, I released my policy plan around AI—and a core tenant of it is ensuring that AI does not replace human creativity. The production and appreciation of art is a fundamentally human endeavor. No machine can replace the experience, compassion, and innate creativity of the writers, actors, and crews that are the backbone of California’s entertainment industry.

My administration will never be a rubber stamp for the AI industry. That’s why I’m calling for strict workplace guardrails overseen by human workers, and ensure independent safety testing before new AI models go to market. And it’s why I’m proposing a Golden State Sovereign Wealth Fund, funded by a token tax on business AI use, in order to deliver dividends and job training to working Californians rather than just enriching billionaires.

Because the massive wealth that AI generates must belong to all Californians.

I’ll Ensure the California Entertainment Industry Continues to Lead the World – and That Everyone Shares in Its Success.

California will continue to lead the world on so many fronts if we ensure that the prosperity generated here is shared by everyone. Our entertainment industry is a great example of this concept at its best—in large part because it’s got a huge, well-paid union workforce.

Unlike some politicians who claim to support labor, I’ve spent more than 15 years locking arms with labor leadership to fight for working families, and helped fund massive national ground operations in direct partnerships with labor groups.

The entertainment industry’s union workforce is threatened by billionaire tech mergers, which deliver the worst possible product at the highest-possible price. Consolidating a large swath of the creative industry in the hands of one billionaire is bad for workers, and it’s bad for consumers. Movies will get worse, and it will become ever-easier to use AI at the expense of actors, artists, film crews, and production crews.

And already, other states and countries are seizing the moment, trying to lure away business from California through competing tax credits.

For generations, people have built their fortunes in California. But those fortunes should never come at the expense of working people. Here, in the state that built the global entertainment industry and made AI possible, we win as a team—or not at all.