Tom Steyer, the billionaire among a crowded field of democrats vying to be California’s next governor, visited Fresno on Wednesday with a message largely focused on affordability and opposition to the Trump administration.
Speaking in front of a west Fresno crowd of more than 100, Steyer said as governor he’d work to help get 1 million new homes built across the state by making it easier to build. He also noted Fresno’s ranking atop a list of cities with the highest electricity rates and said he’d introduce local competition against utility providers.
“The number one problem that people have in California is they can’t afford to live in California, and that’s the truth,” Steyer said.
Steyer, who ran for president in 2020, has positioned himself as one of the more progressive candidates in this year’s California gubernatorial race, which includes a June 2 primary that will send the top two vote-getters to the November General Election. Worth $2.4 billion according to Forbes, Steyer founded a hedge fund called Farallon Capital Management that he walked away from in 2012 to focus on “work for the community,” he said Wednesday.
His visit to Fresno comes a week after a majority of the gubernatorial race’s candidates visited the city for two forums that Steyer was unable to attend because of a scheduling conflict. He told The Bee on Wednesday he plans to return to Fresno later in his campaign.
According to an average of four recent polls, Steyer is polling among the top five candidates in the race. He is trailing both GOP candidates — former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco — as well as Democratic Bay Area Congressman Eric Swalwell. Steyer is polling ahead of former Orange County Congresswoman Katie Porter and former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, both democrats.
California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer laughs as he speaks to an audience member during an appearance Tuesday evening, April 7, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com Steyer says build 1 million homes, introduce competition to ‘electric monopolies’
Steyer mentioned his plans to increase housing construction multiple times during his forum with Fresno residents Wednesday.
His housing plans include making it easier to finance and build housing through streamlined construction permitting, and by replacing local development impact fees revenues with dollars raised from closing a loophole he says allows wealthy property owners to avoid paying their fair share, according to his website. Steyer referred to himself during Wednesday’s forum as “the billionaire who will take on the billionaires.”
“Most young people think they’ll never be able to afford a house,” he said. “We are going to move permits, we are going to move zoning, we are going to move cost per square foot.”
Steyer also took aim at California’s electricity providers.
“I’m trying to introduce competition against these electric monopolies, against PG&E,” he said.
Steyer said he is in favor of introducing local competitors to the utility companies, which he said would allow for the creation of microgrids that will drive down energy costs.
“Their incentives are not to keep costs low,” Steyer said of utility companies. “Their incentives are to make as much money by keeping costs high, which is crazy and perverse.”
California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer greets member ean audience member during an appearance Tuesday evening, April 7, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com Steyer calls Donald Trump a ‘criminal,’ says ‘abolish ICE’
Echoing remarks by other democrats in Fresno last week, Steyer blasted President Donald Trump and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
He said Trump “breaks the law every day” and criticized the president’s recent comments that the federal government cannot fund social services because it should be focused on paying for the military.
Steyer, like several of his democratic colleagues in the race, said ICE should be abolished.
“Do we need immigration services? Of course,” he said. “Do we need armed men with masks shooting Americans with impunity? Absolutely not.”
“You cannot reform the Gestapo,” Steyer added. “There’s nothing to reform.”
California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer listens to a question from the aidience during an appearance Tuesday evening, April 7, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com 
California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer addresses a question from the audience during an appearance Tuesday evening, April 7, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
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Erik is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, where he helped launch an effort to better meet the news needs of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Before that, he served as editor-in-chief of his community college student newspaper, Riverside City College Viewpoints, where he covered the impacts of the Salton Sea’s decline on its adjacent farm worker communities in the Southern California desert. Erik’s work is supported through the California Local News Fellowship program.