Days before the New Hampshire primary, businessman and Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer said that the best strategy to beat President Donald Trump in 2020 is to tackle his handling of the economy. And he's the best candidate to do so, he said.
“I think it’s time that everybody in the Democratic Party realizes what’s happened this weekend and where we really are, which is this: Donald Trump can get re-elected,” Steyer said during an interview with Boston Public Radio on Friday in Manchester, N.H. “I can take him down on the economy because ... I couldn’t do my job if I didn’t know how to create growth, jobs, prosperity.”
Steyer entered the race late with a media blitz that blanketed the airwaves in states like New Hampshire and South Carolina. Utilizing his
estimated $1.6 billion net worth
Steyer said that it’s unfair to attribute his success to his bank account. On Friday, Steyer pointed to his success in South Carolina, where he’s
currently estimated as polling in second place
“What’s going on in South Carolina and Nevada is that I am doing really well with black people ... because I address race explicitly,” Steyer said. “I’m the person with a history of standing up for justice in this race across society, including specifically for black and brown people.”
Steyer has
spent
“I’ve been working on this for 12 years,” Steyer said. “I’m the person in this race who knows actually how to win on this, because we’ve done a series of statewide elections around the country and we’ve never lost.”
As for the matter of beating Trump, Steyer said he thinks he is the only candidate who can beat him on the debate stage. Given his time in the private sector, where he ran a multi-billion dollar hedge fund, Steyer said that he is best prepared to challenge Trump on the economy.
Despite criticism from progressives about his work in the financial sector, particularly his prior investments in for-profit jails and the fossil fuel industry — both of which he has divested from — Steyer said on Friday that his message can bring together a large enough coalition to beat Trump in the general election.
“If you don’t have the chops, the experience and the expertise to [debate Trump], you can’t do it, because he’s going to tell a million lies and you got know why they’re untrue,” Steyer said. “This is a Mar-a-Lago economy. That’s what this is.”