Tom Steyer has never been a stranger to controversy. From his days as a hedge fund billionaire funding Trump impeachment drives to his current high-stakes race for California governor, the 68-year-old Democrat has consistently managed to infuriate allies and adversaries alike. Now, as the June primary approaches, a fresh wave of scandals — including a formal influencer complaint, an FPPC investigation, and a very public feud with AIPAC — has put his campaign under the harshest spotlight yet.
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Influencer Files Complaint Against Steyer Campaign, Alleging Violations
The most recent controversy rocking the Steyer campaign involves social media influencers and alleged violations of California’s political disclosure law.
Political influencer Maggie Reed — who posts satirical political content to roughly half a million followers on Instagram and TikTok under the username mermaidmamamaggie — filed a formal complaint against Tom Steyer’s campaign for governor, saying the committee failed to notify her of disclosure requirements, as required by law, when she was paid to meet with Steyer in March and later produced social media content from the meeting.
Reed, who posted and later deleted a video from her meeting with Steyer, said she had signed an agreement with his campaign that actually barred her from disclosing the payment. That detail is particularly damaging: she was legally required to disclose the sponsorship, yet her contract with the very campaign that paid her reportedly prevented her from doing so.
Adding insult to injury, Reed said the Steyer campaign falsely accused her of posting paid content in support of Steyer’s chief Democratic rival, Xavier Becerra, and failing to disclose it — an accusation that came in a complaint filed by the billionaire’s own campaign.
This is not an isolated incident. California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) has launched a probe of Steyer’s hefty spending on a growing army of Gen Z creators, some of whom didn’t disclose they were being paid by the billionaire and later deleted the deceptive posts.
Content creators Beatrice Gomberg and Kaitlyn Hennessy, who filed a separate complaint, said they noticed patterns in numerous online posts that were “all very pro-Steyer, anti-Becerra” without any disclosure that the creators had been paid. “They were completely ignoring the law, the Political Reform Act of California,” Gomberg said.
The Steyer campaign has pushed back. Spokesperson Kevin Liao called the allegations baseless, stating: “Creators deserve to be fairly compensated for their work — just like any other professional. Unlike other campaigns, we’re fully transparent: every payment we make is publicly disclosed, as required by California law.”
Still, the FPPC investigation continues, and the optics are damaging for a candidate who markets himself as a reformer fighting the political establishment.
Is Tom Steyer a Democrat or Republican? Tom Steyer Policies and His Party Identity
For anyone asking is Tom Steyer a Democrat or Republican, the answer is unambiguously Democratic — though his profile is more complicated than a simple party label suggests. On tom steyer policies, he has staked out firmly progressive ground: Steyer is running on taxing the wealthy, supporting single-payer healthcare, and taking on corporate power. He calls himself “the billionaire who wants to tax other billionaires,” and his platform includes challenging the monopoly status of investor-owned utilities, raising property taxes on business-owned properties, and collecting a fee on AI usage to support displaced workers. Yet his record as founder of Farallon Capital Management — a hedge fund that invested in fossil fuels and private prison companies — creates a jarring contradiction that rivals have hammered relentlessly. Former Rep. Katie Porter charged during a debate: “You made the billions that you’re using to fund your campaign off fossil fuels.” Steyer’s answer — pointing to the corporate money lining up against him as proof he’s “for real” — encapsulates the paradox at the heart of his Democratic candidacy: a billionaire asking voters to trust that he will bite the hand that once fed him.
The AIPAC Feud: Steyer Takes on the Pro-Israel Lobby
One of the most charged dimensions of the tom steyer aipac controversy involves his outspoken condemnation of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Steyer has declared that AIPAC “is a dark money organization that should have no place in our politics,” a statement that drew fierce criticism from pro-Israel groups and conservative commentators.
Steyer has stood firm, writing: “This is a group that is cheering on Trump and Netanyahu’s war that’s driving up gas prices for Californians — a group that attacks progressive Democrats every chance.” His stance has already cost him politically: Steyer lost the endorsement of Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, which Steyer attributed to his AIPAC condemnation.
Critics have been quick to note the irony. Steyer, who spent $345 million on his failed presidential campaign in 2020 and has already dropped tens of millions on his gubernatorial race, is himself a longtime major funder of left-leaning political groups, yet argues that other Americans should not be permitted to pool their money to fight for issues important to them.
The nuanced reality is that Steyer presents as both pro-Israel in principle and critical of specific Israel-aligned institutions: he endorses Israel’s security and a two-state solution while publicly denouncing AIPAC as a dark money actor and opposing unilateral annexation and settlement expansion. That combination has made him a controversial figure among Jewish voters and pro-Israel Democrats in a state where those communities wield meaningful electoral influence.
The PG&E Battle and the “Class Traitor” Campaign
Steyer’s most unusual selling point may also be his most controversial. He openly brands himself a “class traitor” — a billionaire who wants to raise taxes on people like himself.
PG&E, the Oakland-based utility giant, has shelled out more than $12 million to oppose Steyer in the governor’s race — a historic level of spending that reflects just how seriously the utility industry takes his threat to their business model. Steyer has vowed to “break up utility monopolies” to bring down Californians’ notoriously high electricity rates, a position that has endeared him to consumer advocates while making him a target of California’s most powerful corporate interests.
The anti-Steyer super PAC funded in part by PG&E, called California is Not for Sale, has run ads targeting his hedge fund past. The California Chamber of Commerce has also lined up against him, claiming Steyer will raise costs, not lower them.
The Data Center Flip-Flop and Environmentalist Backlash
Steyer’s green credentials — long a cornerstone of his public identity — have also taken a hit during the campaign.
Steyer initially supported a moratorium on data centers until regulations are in place to protect the environment, but later clarified that he is not calling for a moratorium and instead wants companies to pay for their own energy usage and grid maintenance.
Greenpeace, which had awarded Steyer an “A” grade for his environmental platform, issued a stern warning that it would reconsider his grade if he continued to change his position on data centers.
The reversal fits a pattern critics have highlighted: a candidate whose public image as a climate champion has repeatedly run headlong into the complicated realities of his past and present policy positions.
Democrats Infuriated — Again
Even before the influencer scandal, Steyer had a talent for alienating the very people who should be his allies.
In a notable episode, Steyer swooped in with millions of dollars to promote Gavin Newsom’s congressional redistricting measure — but his uninvited intervention, which included an ad touting his own role in pushing for Trump’s impeachment, landed badly with campaign insiders who feared his messaging would turn off independent voters.
A senior California House Democrat, speaking anonymously, was blunt: “It’s hard to see him single-handedly inserting himself into a campaign we’re winning. He’s inserting an impeachment argument into a campaign that has nothing to do with impeachment.”
That tension — between Steyer’s genuine desire to help and his tendency to dominate any room he enters — remains a defining characteristic of his political career.
The $130 Million Question
Through it all, Steyer continues to write enormous checks to his own campaign. His spending on the California governor’s race totals more than $130 million so far, making it one of the most expensive primary campaigns in state history. He has secured the endorsement of Our Revolution, the Bernie Sanders-aligned group, even as the progressive movement wrestles with the paradox of backing a billionaire.
With the primary looming, Steyer has faced questions about whether his progressivism is resonating with the state’s historically liberal Democrats — particularly as rivals like Xavier Becerra have attracted their own high-profile support, including a significant donation from Meta.
Whether voters ultimately reward or reject Steyer’s unconventional campaign, one thing is clear: the Tom Steyer controversy is far from over.
What do you think — can a self-described “class traitor” billionaire win the trust of California’s voters, or does the controversy surrounding his campaign run too deep? Drop your thoughts in the comments and stay tuned as this race heads to its dramatic conclusion.
