Billionaire businessman and California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer parked his “A California You Can Afford” tour bus in San Luis Obispo, hoping to capture Central Coast support a little more than a week before Election Day on June 2.
Steyer, one of the eight Democrats running to be the next state governor, met with curious community members at the SLO Vets Hall on May 22.
“People talk about this being a complicated election,” Steyer declared to a crowd of roughly 100 people. “This is not a complicated election. … There are three people in this race and only three.”
Steyer referred to the frontrunners: himself, fellow Democrat and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and British and American Republican political commentator Steve Hilton.
Riverside County’s Republican Sheriff Chad Bianco, and a string of Democrats—former U.S. representative Katie Porter, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa—are also contending to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Under California’s “jungle primary system,” voters must cast their ballots for any one of these candidates. The top two vote-getters will advance to the November general election regardless of their affiliation.
At SLO Vets Hall, Steyer cast a spotlight on the actions of his leading opponents. He mentioned Hilton’s proposal to allow Louisiana to extradite a Bay Area abortion doctor to face charges despite state laws prohibiting such cooperation. Steyer also lambasted oil giant Chevron’s contributions to Becerra’s campaign and other big donors.
“He took a million dollars this week from Meta on the exact same day they laid of 10 percent of their workers,” Steyer said. “He’ll take money from anyone. They aren’t putting that money in because they like it. They’re putting that money in because they expect him to produce for them.”
‘People talk about this being a complicated election. This is not a complicated election. … There are three people in this race and only three.’
—Tom Steyer, California gubernatorial candidate
Meta donated the $950,000 to an independent expenditures committee called Working Families for Healthy Communities Supporting Becerra for Governor 2026. While the committee can raise and spend money on behalf of Becerra’s campaign, California law prohibits it from working directly with the candidate.
Steyer has also faced criticism for past actions. Founded by Steyer and under his management, hedge fund Farallon Capital Management invested almost $90 million in Corrections Corporation of America in 2004. Now called CoreCivic, the company runs California’s largest immigration detention center in Kern County along with an ICE facility in San Diego County.
Steyer has expressed remorse for his actions, calling the investment “a huge mistake,” in an official Instagram video.
He told New Times he’s aware of the plight of migrants, specifically farmworkers on the Central Coast and in the rest of the state.
“Those investments were made 22 years ago, I’ve been out of them for more than 20 years,” Steyer said. “If you look at my ICE policies, they’re the strongest of anyone running for governor and they include prosecuting ICE agents for racial profiling, that’s illegal. Prosecuting ICE agents for violence against Californians, which is illegal … [and] inspecting the detention centers.”
The environmental advocate also pointed to the TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation, the regenerative farming nonprofit Steyer runs with his wife, Kat Taylor.
“I worked as a cowboy. I worked picking fruit. I think I qualified as a migrant farmworker, as a matter of fact,” he said. “I’m very aware of how hard those people work.”
Steyer also wants to create 1 million affordable homes across the state if he wins the election.
SLO Tenants Union member Gerri Clemens said she’s supporting Steyer due to his plan to create more affordable homes, expand the state Renters’ Tax Credit, and increase renter protections by including just cause eviction standards and a cap on excessive rent increases.
Clemens, 72, has been a fan since Steyer unsuccessfully ran for the 2020 presidential election.
“I happen to be a renter myself, I always have,” she told New Times. “We need to make sure that we have healthy places to live in, safe places to live in. If there are any issues with our living situation, we should not be afraid to speak up.”
Nineteen-year-old Tom Schilling, a Cal Poly city planning major from Washington, D.C., plans to switch his voter registration to California so that he can cast his ballot for Steyer.
“There was really no choice. Not a Republican and then the other Democrats, no one. It’s sort of the same deal in Virginia right now. We elected a really centrist Gov. Abigail Spanberger,” Schilling said. “Just this week, she vetoed a bill to allow workers to get into union negotiations. We need to be looking at different ways of approaching those issues, and I think that’s what Tom wants to do.” ∆
This article appears in Summer Guide 2026.