Tom Steyer's Problem: Even as Mark Zuckerberg is now funding a pro-Becerra PAC, Steyer lacks the only two endorsements

that could actually help him.

https://prospect.org/2026/05/21/tom-steyers-problem-california-governor-race/


Tom Steyer speaks during a California gubernatorial debate in San Francisco, May 14, 2026. Credit: Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo

Mark Zuckerberg’s had a busy week. Not only did he can 8,000 Meta employees deemed redundant with the coming of AI, but he also had his company throw $950,000 into a pro-Becerra PAC as California’s gubernatorial primary draws nigh. The Meta million (well, nearly million) serves three of Zuckerberg’s purposes. First, the latest polls show Xavier Becerra to be the most likely candidate to actually become governor come 2027, and it’s always good to have a governor at least somewhat beholden to you. Second, it’s now clear that the favored candidate of Zuckerberg’s fellow Silicon Valley tech bros, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, is a sinking ship who will remain mired in single digits, so Zuckerberg is signaling to his oligarch peers that it’s time to move to Becerra. And third, as it’s increasingly likely that only one Democrat will emerge from the primary (to surely defeat Republican Steve Hilton in the November runoff), Becerra is infinitely preferable, by the calculations of any self-interested California billionaire, to the only other Democrat with a chance to survive the primary’s winnowing: Tom Steyer.

The most recent poll—which is from the state Democratic Party, not an independent source—shows the Trump-endorsed Hilton with 22 percent support, followed by Becerra with 21 percent, Steyer with 15 percent, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco (the only other Republican in the race) with 10 percent, and none of the other Democrats, including former Rep. Katie Porter, polling at more than 7 percent. Given the leftward movement on economic issues that is documented by virtually every poll of Democrats, not to mention their growing preference for candidates not identified with the party establishment, by rights Steyer should be doing better. If, as the poll suggests, Porter’s support is dropping, Steyer should be picking up some of that support—particularly since he’s swamped California’s airwaves with roughly $200 million in ads, plus paying various influencers to sway voters on his behalf (a tactic that Becerra has indulged in, too).

In fact, however, Steyer looks stuck. You might think that Steyer’s progressivism would resonate with the state’s historically liberal Democrats. He’s the only candidate in the race who supports the wealth tax initiative that will be on November’s ballot. He’s the candidate with the longest and deepest record of supporting alternative energy and other climate-related reforms. Unlike Becerra, he’s not the beneficiary of campaign funding from Chevron and, now, those much reviled oligarchs. Steyer’s positions, broadly speaking, align more with the Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth Warren wing of the party than any of the candidates’, with the possible exception of the sinking Porter.

So, what’s the problem? If it’s not the message, it must be the messenger. Steyer, of course, is a billionaire himself, and if that wasn’t clear to most voters at the start of the campaign, the sheer volume, the tsunami of his ads in which they’ve been drenched, has at least convinced them that he’s one mega-rich guy. As well, Steyer’s lack of charisma (a lack common to all his fellow candidates) has made it hard for him to convince voters that he’ll be a traitor to his class in the manner of that greatest of all Democrats, Franklin Roosevelt. (Were Steyer actually to become governor, my guess is that he would lean into the class-traitor identity. Politically, it’s the only viable one he could choose, which is one more reason why Zuckerberg et al. are determined to defeat him.)

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