“If [Steyer] wins, we might be able to checkmate the fossil fuel industry at last and improve the life of so many Californians treated like pawns”

CALIFORNIA — In case you missed it, longtime climate activist and author Rebecca Solnit  shared her support of Tom Steyer for Governor in a recent essay titled “The Case for Climate Champion Tom Steyer in the California Governor's Race.” Solnit highlighted Steyer’s fierce dedication to environmentalism, human rights advocacy, and a deep understanding of policy and the systems that operate within Sacramento. Solnit urges voters to focus on “what he's done for California and the climate and how he's shown up on issues of economic justice over the past sixteen years” as a testament to his commitment to pushing back against special interest groups and establishment Democrats who have controlled Sacramento for so long. 

The following are excerpts from the piece.

The Case for Climate Champion Tom Steyer in the California Governor's Race
By Rebecca Solnit

I'm not a fan of airtight categories either: categories are leaky and a lot of what you may assume about gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer might be undermined by knowing what he's done for California and the climate and how he's shown up on issues of economic justice over the past sixteen years. That's why Our Revolution, the group Bernie Sanders founded, endorsed him enthusiastically: "Tom Steyer has stepped forward with a platform that is clearly aligned with the priorities of our movement — single-payer healthcare, taxing extreme wealth, bold climate action, and getting money out of politics. He didn’t just seek our endorsement — he engaged directly with our organizers and demonstrated a real commitment to a people-first agenda."

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As a longtime climate champion, Steyer offers Californians a rare chance to vote for someone who will bring the necessary urgency, boldness, vision, and expertise to the climate crisis. In California, most of our politicians and our last two governors have been willing to support renewables but not to fight fossil fuel corporations boldly or consistently, and Steyer's main Democratic rival, Xavier Becerra seems to be more of the same in that regard.

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I've never met Steyer, but the voices of those who know him well count for a lot. Among the most compelling is former state senator Nancy Skinner, a progressive environmentalist who represented the East Bay from 2008 to 2024, first in the California assembly, then in the state senate. When I talked to her recently, she praised him as a collaborator she'd worked with again and again when she was a legislator.

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Skinner's testimony shows not just his support for progressive issues, but that he understands the system well enough to have operated successfully within it again and again. That might answer the charge that he's never held elected office, usually levied to suggest he isn't qualified to take on the job. I met Skinner at an event for Jane Fonda's climate PAC (if you haven't noticed, Fonda has spent the last several years deeply --and brilliantly – involved in climate work). Incidentally, Fonda has ringingly endorsed him, as has Our Revolution, former State Controller Betty Yee, the California Nurses Association, the California Teachers Union, AFSCME 3299 (the union representing the most University of California workers), the California Domestic Workers union, the action funds of both the Center for Biological Diversity and the NRDC, a lot of elected officials in state office and Congress, and Third Act California (full list here), while the Bay Area chapter of 350.org has endorsed Steyer and Katie Porter, neither of whom will take fossil fuel money.

Bill McKibben co-founded 350.org in 2008, when the climate movement was just gathering force, and created Third Act in 2021 to mobilize people over sixty for climate and democracy. I've known Bill for more than two decades as a dear friend and climate role model and collaborator (and I sit on the board of Third Act).

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One piece of evidence that his plan to reform California utilities is serious is the fact that PG&E, the for-profit utility serving much of California is dumping shocking amounts of money--a bit of the profit off our overpriced electricity--to fight him. The San Francisco Standard reports, "Pacific Gas & Electric has injected close to $10 million into an anti-Steyer PAC called 'Californians for Resilient and Affordable Energy,' according to new campaign finance disclosures. If he becomes governor, Steyer plans to introduce electricity reforms that could end up being a threat to the company and other investor-owned utilities." There are positive endorsements, but sometimes you can judge someone best by their enemies, and the animosity of PG&E is its own kind of endorsement. Steyer has pledged to cut electricity costs by 25%, a direct threat to the kind of profits that lets PG&E throw that kind of money around.

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From drought to flood to extreme heat to catastrophic wildfire to sea level rise, California is facing climate chaos, and it's an issue that must be addressed through many avenues. Steyer was recently interviewed by Emily Atkin for her climate newsletter Heated, a climate newsletter and podcast, and when she asked him why he doesn't talk more about climate in his campaign he replied, "Because when I talk about electricity, I’m talking about climate. When I talk about wildfires and insurance, I’m talking about climate. When I’m talking about technology growth and inventing the future in California and building the companies about it, I’m talking about climate. I’m trying to talk about climate in terms of the way that people experience it.…"

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Most of the reasons cited for why people don't like or trust Steyer have to do with what he was doing before he walked away from his hedge fund and its investments, the work that made him a billionaire. But he changed his politics to reflect his changed values when he abandoned that work almost fifteen years ago. Of course I don't like the fact that Steyer's investment corporation held, from 2004-2006 shares in a private prison corporation, but he sold them and has apologized repeatedly for it, in actions as well as in words, by supporting progressive measures to reduce incarceration and reform the system. He's also vowed to give half his fortune away in his lifetime and been a hugely generous donor to climate action and the Democratic Party ever since.

Steyer and his wife (since 1986)  Kat Taylor have done a lot more: together they funded set up Beneficial State Bank, a nonprofit community bank in Oakland whose investing "commitments include no predatory lending, and no investments or lending to fossil fuel, private prisons, or weapons manufacturing industries." Steyer likewise founded NextgenAmerica, originally NextGenClimate, to register young voters and mobilize them and candidates on climate and other issues, and another investment company, Galvanize Climate, specifically focused on investing in climate solutions.

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Right now every voter who cares about climate and human rights should first focus on the mess this jungle primary hands us: the top two candidates go on to the general election, and if the Democratic vote in this blue-violet state is spread too widely the two Republicans could be those top two in the November election. But Steyer is currently one of the top two Democratic candidates. In 2016, I said voting is a chess move, not a valentine. I believe that Steyer is the right chess move for California voters. If he wins, we might be able to checkmate the fossil fuel industry at last and improve the life of so many Californians treated like pawns.

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