{"id":357781,"date":"2026-06-12T12:24:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/357781\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T12:24:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:24:26","slug":"wealthy-self-funding-candidates-fell-short-in-2-california-primaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/357781\/","title":{"rendered":"Wealthy Self-Funding Candidates Fell Short In 2 California Primaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

All told, billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer<\/a> spent over $215 million<\/a> of his own fortune on a primary for the California governor\u2019s seat \u2013 and ultimately fell short. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, The Associated Press projected that conservative commentator Steve Hilton<\/a> would edge out Steyer and advance in the gubernatorial contest. The latest results, as of Thursday,<\/a> show that former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra<\/a> had 28% of the vote, Hilton had 24.9% and Steyer trailed in third at 22.6%. <\/p>\n

Similarly, Saikat Chakrabarti<\/a>, a former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), came in third in the House primary for California\u2019s 11th congressional district after putting nearly $10 million of his own funds into the race.<\/a> The latest results had State Sen. Scott Wiener at 40.8%, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan at 29.7% and Chakrabarti with just 17.8%.<\/p>\n

Political experts say that hefty campaign spending can boost candidates<\/a>, though it also has notable limits. Funding can bolster a candidate\u2019s name recognition, for instance, though it can\u2019t do as much for their favorability, San Francisco State University political science professor Jason McDaniel told HuffPost.<\/p>\n

\u201cCampaign spending is ads, it\u2019s staff, it\u2019s precinct walkers, it\u2019s all organizational stuff, data, all that,\u201d said McDaniel. <\/p>\n

Steyer spent $209 million on television ads, some of which introduced him to voters and laid out his progressive messaging on issues like breaking up utilities in the state. Chakrabarti, who also ran a progressive platform, focused on confronting the Democratic Party<\/a> and invested heavily in voter outreach<\/a>, employing over 250 paid canvassers<\/a> who went door-to-door to engage local residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe money could not substitute for\u2026 voters\u2019 experience with you, previous favorable ratings, trusting,\u201d said McDaniel. <\/p>\n

\"TomTom Steyer, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for California, self-funded much of his campaign.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

In both races, Steyer and Chakrabarti\u2019s opponents leaned into their backgrounds in public office and endorsements they had received to emphasize their experience and local ties. Becerra, Steyer\u2019s chief Democratic opponent, touted his track record as California\u2019s former attorney general, a former House lawmaker and a former Cabinet official, expertise that appealed to his supporters.<\/p>\n

In the House race, Wiener and Chan cited endorsements from local constituencies, including Democratic officials and labor groups. Chan\u2019s campaign also received a last-minute boost when she secured the backing of House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the incumbent in the seat. <\/p>\n

Neither Steyer nor Chakrabarti had previously held public office, so both cast themselves as candidates eager to take on the status quo. That message resonated with a number of voters hungry for change, though it likely worked against them with people who favored their opponents\u2019 credentials. <\/p>\n

Steyer and Chakrabarti\u2019s wealth and self-funding also invited scrutiny from some voters, who were wary of supporting a billionaire or centimillionaire. In both instances, their opponents accused them of attempting to buy their elections. Steyer also drew criticism for past investments in industries like fossil fuels and private prisons<\/a>, which clashed with the progressive platform he had embraced.<\/p>\n

Steyer has since said those investments<\/a> \u201cclearly didn\u2019t align with my values\u201d and that his former firm had divested from its stake in the private prison company.<\/a> His campaign also said that the hedge fund<\/a> had screened out fossil-fuel-related holdings from Steyer\u2019s portfolio. <\/p>\n

Both candidates criticized the support their opponents received from corporate interests and pointed to the attacks levied against them by groups affiliated with tech<\/a> leaders and energy companies, respectively.<\/a> Steyer said he wasn\u2019t \u201cconflicted by taking money from corporations,\u201d<\/a> and Chakrabarti said it was an alternative to relying on big donors and owing them favors.<\/a> They also described themselves as \u201cclass traitors\u201d who favored policies like taxing the rich.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the money that they spent, they had a hard time overcoming that presumption of self-funder, you know, in a time when a lot of people in the Democratic Party are just skeptical of very rich people,\u201d said McDaniel. <\/p>\n

\"SaikatSaikat Chakrabarti self-funded a campaign for California’s 11th congressional district.<\/p>\n

San Francisco Chronicle\/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Candidates\u2019 success can also vary depending on other factors, McDaniel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the candidates [Steyer] faced were different, if it was a different year, maybe that money is enough,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Previously, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie spent heavily to self-fund his <\/a>2024 campaign<\/a> as an outsider candidate. According to McDaniel, Lurie\u2019s bid was helped by voters\u2019 openness to an anti-incumbent message for city leadership at the time \u2013 and by one of his opponents\u2019 campaigns struggling in the run-up<\/a> <\/a>to the election.<\/a> <\/p>\n

At least one other California contest involving a self-funding candidate this cycle has yet to be called. Eric Jones<\/a>, a former venture capitalist who invested nearly $5 million in a progressive challenge of incumbent Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), is one of two candidates vying for the second-place spot in a primary for California\u2019s 4th congressional district<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All told, billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer spent over $215 million of his own fortune on a primary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1400,7,9,8,9682,25299],"class_list":["post-357781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-2026-elections","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-saikat-chakrabarti","tag-tom-steyer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357781","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=357781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}