A billionaire who spent $11 million to help put Terry McAuliffe in the governor’s mansion in Virginia plans to spend up to $100 million during this year’s election cycle to press for climate change measures, a new report said.
The New York Times said Tom Steyer, a retired billionaire and founder of a successful hedge fund, wants to make his organization, NextGen Climate Action, “similar in scale to the conservative political network overseen by Charles and David Koch.”
Mr. Steyer hopes to raise $50 million from other deep-pocketed donors and put up $50 million of his own.
The Times reported that Mr. Steyer is targeting the governor’s race in Florida, where incumbent Gov. Rick Scott has cast doubt on whether climate change is man-made, and the Senate race in Iowa, where his group hopes that Rep. Bruce Braley, the Democratic candidate, will shape the issue ahead of the 2016 presidential primaries.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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