Lefty voters across California find themselves in a tough spot. There is one viable candidate for governor who supports Medicare for All, immigrants’ rights, and taxing the rich. He has even threatened to prosecute ICE agents.

Unfortunately, he’s also a billionaire.

Tom Steyer, a self-identified traitor (opens in new tab) to his ultrawealthy class, is “somehow running the most progressive campaign” in the gubernatorial race, per the California Democratic Socialists of America. Progressives in San Francisco are loath to support a billionaire, traitor or not, but feel they have no choice.

“It’s going to feel icky, but we’ve got to vote for Steyer,” said software engineer and former climate organizer Jackie Ali Cordoba, 30, who recently joined the local DSA chapter. “The frontrunners are either beholden to corporate interests or rich.”

Ali Cordoba was initially repelled by Steyer’s fortune, which came from his years as a hedge fund manager, but softened after learning about his climate platform and involvement in criminal justice reform. When they saw that PG&E was spending millions to attack him, they were sold. But that was mainly because they had already ruled out the other Democrats in the race.

“It kind of came about via a process of elimination,” they said. Ali Cordoba was never going to vote for Democratic front-runner Xavier Becerra because of his campaign contributions from Chevron, and Katie Porter simply wasn’t polling high enough. 

The state DSA stopped short of endorsing Steyer in its official voter guide (opens in new tab) and made sure to criticize him for his wealth and investments, but he was the only gubernatorial candidate the organization praised. “The most progressive of the current viable candidates for governor is Tom Steyer,” the guide says. “Time will tell whether he’s truly a class traitor.”

California DSA cochair William Prince wrote the guidance about the governor’s race.

“You can’t extricate the fact that he’s running this campaign — largely because a lot of it is self-funded by that wealth — from the fact that that wealth was accumulated through the exploitation of workers,” Prince said of Steyer. “So it’s a very difficult thing for socialists to sit with.”

It’s one of the factors that prevented DSA from formally endorsing Steyer, but Prince reiterated that he is “the least bad choice.”

For some voters, though, Steyer’s wealth is a plus, because it means he doesn’t have to rely on corporate donations. The ideal candidate would raise campaign funds from millions of small donations, but that’s easier said than done — not everybody can be Bernie Sanders. 

“The only people who are really going to bring meaningful change are those who don’t have to kowtow to money,” said progressive activist and Steyer supporter Seth Morrison, adding that independently financing a progressive campaign is a good way for Steyer to use his riches.

The only concrete advice the California DSA offered on the governor’s race was not to cast a protest vote for third-party contenders like Butch Ware, of the Green Party, and Ramsey Robinson, a local organizer running with the Peace and Freedom Party. Robinson, who said on Instagram (opens in new tab) that Steyer is “just another billionaire,” told The Standard he would not drop out and endorse him.

“People I’m talking to on the campaign trail, they don’t trust what this man has done or what he’s saying,” Robinson said, adding that some of the progressive voters lining up behind Steyer probably just haven’t heard of the Peace and Freedom Party.

One voter who has is Jon Ramirez-Monaco, an activist and part-time librarian who is still deciding whether he’ll vote for Steyer — which he wouldn’t be happy about — or Robinson.

“​​I’m just tired of voting for candidates that are really not living up to what I think is morally correct,” Ramirez-Monaco said, explaining that in addition to being a billionaire, Steyer has not taken a strong enough stand against Israel and its bombardment of Gaza. 

But other voters just want to support a candidate with a real shot at victory. Steyer, per the latest polls, is in third place, with 15% support, while Becerra and Republican front-runner Steve Hilton are virtually tied in the low 20s. Steyer’s popularity is a selling point for some progressives, who feel they need to be realistic.

“SF progressives have complained about moderates and dark money forever, but there has been zero progress on dark money,” tenant organizer Shanti Singh said. “Did they think we were just going to sit there being pure forever while they ran roughshod over us?”

Other voters on the left say that while they hope future campaign finance reforms can keep big money out of politics, and super-rich candidates shouldn’t be the norm on the left or elsewhere, they need to be strategic in the moment. Ali Cordoba said progressives have an opportunity for a win with Steyer.

“I’m on the left,” they said, “but I’m also a pragmatic voter.”