{"id":241533,"date":"2026-03-29T01:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T01:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/241533\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T01:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T01:25:12","slug":"billionaire-ca-governor-candidate-tom-steyer-at-no-kings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/241533\/","title":{"rendered":"Billionaire CA governor candidate Tom Steyer at \u2018No Kings\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Saturday\u2019s \u201cNo Kings\u201d rally in Sacramento<\/a>, most of the crowd\u2019s ire was reserved for President Donald Trump, but there was still plenty left over for the nation\u2019s billionaire class, which attendees say supports and benefits from the administration\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy not oligarchy,\u201d read signs carried by some protesters, who railed about both purported corruption by the Trump administration and what they viewed as a skewing of the country\u2019s politics increasingly in favor of the ultra-wealthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all money, money, money, money for me, me, me, me \u2014 nothing for the people,\u201d protester Eric Scherrer told a Sacramento Bee reporter.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, signature gatherers for a proposed ballot measure to levy a special tax on California billionaires to raise money for public services appeared to do a brisk trade as they worked the sprawling crowd of marchers that milled in front of the state Capitol.<\/p>\n

So it was notable, amid such a crowd, that the only leading candidate in the California gubernatorial race who appeared to attend Saturday\u2019s Sacramento rally was Tom Steyer, the billionaire who has spent more than $80 million of his personal wealth to propel himself into the mix of Democratic front-runners since entering the race last year.<\/p>\n

Steyer did not join the river of people who marched across Tower Bridge from West Sacramento to the Capitol<\/a>, he said in an interview, and he did not give a speech to the crowd. \u201cNo Kings\u201d rallies have generally not given speaking time to politicians, a spokesperson with Steyer\u2019s campaign told The Bee.<\/p>\n

Instead, Steyer spent his time talking with attendees and expressing his own disgust with Trump, including most recently the president\u2019s decision to join Israel in a bombing campaign against Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cA king is an idiot who decides on a whim to start a war half a world away that drives up our food prices, drives up our gas prices, drives up our mortgage rates,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing a king means stepping on the law … hurting people and not caring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steyer did talk to people at the rally about his own billionaire status, he said, continuing his pitch to voters that his vast fortune gives him the political independence to advocate for the needs of everyday Californians over those of deep-pocketed special interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the person (in the race) who has no conflict,\u201d Steyer said.<\/p>\n

Steyer has, however, sought and in some cases received the endorsements of some of the state\u2019s more influential labor unions.<\/p>\n

The Bee reported Friday that Steyer\u2019s most recent tax returns included investments in private equity funds<\/a>, including some based in overseas tax havens. Steyer has been critical of the industry on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n

\"Democratic Democratic governor candidate Tom Steyer, a billionaire and entrepreneur, speaks during a campaign stop in Sacramento on Thursday, March 5. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Steyer has pledged to give away the majority of his fortune while he is still alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the only billionaire on the ballot, but there\u2019s a lot of billionaires in this race,\u201d he said, referring to donors who have backed his political rivals. Steyer has most pointedly taken aim at tech company tycoons who have put millions into San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan\u2019s campaign for governor.<\/p>\n

Mahan attended a rally in San Jose on Saturday, according to his social media pages.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump isn\u2019t just a threat in theory \u2014 his policies are affecting Californians every single day,\u201d Mahan posted on X<\/a>. \u201cForcing our neighbors to live in fear. Driving up the cost of gas and groceries. We have to fight back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Protesters Protesters hold signs during a “No Kings” rally at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Saturday. PAUL KITAGAKI JR. pkitagaki@sacbee.com
\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Andrew Graham<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Andrew Graham reports for The Sacramento Bee\u2019s Capitol Bureau, where he covers the Legislature and state politics. He previously reported in Wyoming, for the nonprofit WyoFile, and in Santa Rosa at The Press Democrat. He studied journalism at the University of Montana.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Saturday\u2019s \u201cNo Kings\u201d rally in Sacramento, most of the crowd\u2019s ire was reserved for President Donald Trump,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[108469,108471,108468,121,123,122,108470],"class_list":["post-241533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-anti-oligarchy-protest","tag-ballot-measure-billionaires-tax","tag-no-kings-rally-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-tom-steyer-campaign"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}