candidate_id: tom-steyer

candidate_name: Tom Steyer

claim_type: recommendation

event_title: CalMatters Governor Q&A Transcripts

party: Democratic

text: Steyer says the biggest affordability lever is housing and that California should build more homes by simplifying permitting and zoning where people want to live.

theme_id: housing

theme_label: Housing


text: Steyer says he would call a first-day special election to eliminate a corporate real estate tax loophole worth over $20 billion and direct the funds to cities and counties to reduce their resistance to permitting housing.


event_title: Steyer abolish ICE issue page

text: Stop masked ICE agents from terrorizing Californians and seek authority for California to hold ICE agents accountable for violent or illegal conduct.

theme_id: immigration-civil-rights

theme_label: Immigration Civil Rights


event_title: Steyer AI issue page

text: Steyer says he would seek voter approval to create a state sovereign wealth fund funded by a token tax on corporate AI use.

theme_id: ai

theme_label: Ai


text: Steyer says he would require social media platforms to undergo safety audits and enforce age requirements, including independent safety testing of AI models before release.


event_title: Steyer campaign issues

text: Defend climate policy while lowering electric and gas costs through competition, anti-monopoly action, and oil/gas accountability.

theme_id: climate-energy

theme_label: Climate Energy


text: Build one million affordable homes over four years and pair housing supply with renter relief, insurance stabilization, and homelessness reform.


text: Make corporations and billionaires pay more, including targeting commercial-property tax loopholes.

theme_id: taxes

theme_label: Taxes


event_title: Steyer education issue page

text: Fund free education from pre-K through community college by closing corporate tax loopholes and expanding access to UC and CSU enrollment.

theme_id: education

theme_label: Education


event_title: Steyer electricity issue page

text: Cut household electric bills by about 25 percent by adding competition, reducing utility guaranteed returns, expanding distributed clean energy, and appointing ratepayer-focused regulators.

theme_id: electricity-utilities

theme_label: Electricity Utilities


event_title: Steyer health care issue page

text: Move California toward single-payer health care that covers everyone, regulates rates, cuts out insurance middlemen, and protects rural hospitals.

theme_id: health-care

theme_label: Health Care


claim_type: assertion

text: Steyer argues California’s current health care system is unsustainable and that moving to a single-payer system is the best way to lower costs and expand coverage.


event_title: Steyer housing issue page

text: Steyer says he would enforce existing state tools to hold local governments accountable and streamline zoning approvals so compliant builders can proceed more quickly.


claim_type: prediction

text: Steyer says California should build 1 million homes over four years to improve affordability.


event_title: Steyer oil and gas prices issue page

text: Protect consumers from oil-supply manipulation by expanding strategic petroleum reserves, investigating excess profits, and using crisis tools when refinery shortages drive prices up.

theme_id: gas-prices-energy

theme_label: Gas Prices Energy


text: Steyer says he would direct the California Energy Commission to activate a maximum gross refining margin penalty to legally cap refinery profits and confiscate excess profits.

theme_id: energy

theme_label: Energy


text: Steyer says the state should return penalties collected from illegal oil markups directly to Californians as rebates to offset cost-of-living increases.


event_title: Axios San Diego candidate Q&A: taxes and greenhouse gas goals

text: Steyer says he would broaden access to clean-energy technologies like home batteries, rooftop solar, heat pumps and electric vehicles and continue state leadership in climate innovation.


text: Steyer argues California’s tax system allows wealthy people to exploit loopholes and says he would close corporate loopholes to raise $20 billion annually without increasing taxes on working people.


event_title: Axios San Diego candidate Q&A: homelessness plans

text: Steyer says he would tailor housing and care levels to different homeless populations while maintaining a commitment to Housing First and providing intensive support for chronically homeless people.

theme_id: homelessness

theme_label: Homelessness


claim_type: observation

text: Steyer says California has overemphasized permanent supportive housing compared with bridge housing, resulting in high spending with relatively few units produced.


event_title: Axios San Diego candidate Q&A: lowering gas and energy bills

text: Steyer claims oil companies are manipulating supply and pricing and says he would use existing executive authority to cap refinery profits per gallon of gas.


text: Steyer says he would pursue investigations and competition reforms to reduce utility and energy costs, including cutting guaranteed utility profits and requiring data centers to cover their costs.


event_title: Ezra Klein California Governor Housing Forum

text: Steyer says lowering housing costs will require changes like offsite industrial construction methods that he claims can reduce costs by around 20% or more.


text: Steyer argues California should use public finance more aggressively to reduce housing costs, and he supports a proposed $10 billion housing bond.


event_title: NBC4 / Telemundo 52 statewide California gubernatorial debate

text: Steyer says reducing housing costs would require faster and cheaper permitting, denser zoning near public transportation, and offsite construction that he claims could cut building costs per square foot by at least one-third.


text: Steyer says he would close a corporate real estate tax loophole raising $22 billion annually and direct the funds to cities and counties to make housing permitting financially feasible for them.


event_title: CNN California governor primary debate

text: Steyer says he would call a special election on his first day to close a corporate real estate tax loophole worth over $20 billion to raise revenue for state needs.


text: Steyer says California’s main problem is that residents cannot afford to live in the state, including high housing, health care, electricity and gasoline costs.

theme_id: cost-of-living

theme_label: Cost of Living


event_title: CBS California / Pomona College Governor's Debate

text: Steyer says improving housing affordability requires structural changes such as faster permitting, zoning reform, and offsite industrial construction to cut building costs.


text: Steyer says health care should be treated as a right and that California should pursue single-payer, while also calling a special election to close a corporate real estate tax loophole to raise $22 billion.


claim_type: reframe

event_title: CBS News California Governor's Race Candidate Guide

text: Steyer argues climate progress should be driven by solutions that are cheaper and better in the marketplace while also addressing near-term costs like electricity bills and asthma from air pollution.

theme_id: climate

theme_label: Climate


text: Steyer describes cap-and-trade as a polluter-pays approach in which polluters should bear the cost of pollution rather than taxpayers.


event_title: Nexstar / NewsNation / The Hill California gubernatorial primary debate

text: Steyer argues gasoline prices are high because a war in Iran increased prices and delivered large windfall profits to oil companies, and he says California should implement a windfall profits tax and return the money to residents.


text: Steyer says he wants to break up electric monopoly power and portrays himself as willing to tax other billionaires and challenge corporate influence.


event_title: KQED Political Breakdown: Tom Steyer Makes His Case For Governor of California

text: Steyer argues that California is broadly successful but many residents are struggling because they cannot afford to live in the state.


text: Steyer contends that California benefits from welcoming people from around the world to build the future, but says newcomers should not exploit the state.

theme_id: governance

theme_label: Governance


event_title: Jewish California Governor 2026 Candidate Forum

text: Steyer says closing a real estate tax loophole would raise about $22 billion per year to help address state budget tradeoffs.


text: Steyer warns California faces a strained budget and says federal policy could leave one to three million people without Medi-Cal coverage, creating significant costs for the state.


event_title: Black Action Alliance / KTVU / KTTV California gubernatorial debate

text: Steyer calls for abolishing ICE, arguing the agency is fundamentally unreformable and criminal.


text: Steyer says the top problem in California is affordability and that he would aggressively target costs, starting with housing.


text: Funded and organized climate advocacy rather than holding legislative or executive office: His campaign biography and climate page describe NextGen/Climate advocacy, ballot-measure work, and climate-focused political spending.