California billionaire plans to spend $30 million of his money to elect Democrats in 2018

Billionaire progressive activist Tom Steyer has announced that he plans to spend at least $30 million of his own money to end Republican control of the House of Representatives, according to the Washington Post.

According to the same report, Steyer ended months of speculation by declaring that he personally does not plan to run for any office in 2018.

Who is Tom Steyer?

Steyer is a former hedge fund manager who made billions prior to his retirement in 2012. Since that time, he has spent millions of his own dollars on progressive causes, including a $20 million television advertising campaign in 2017 encouraging voters to sign on to a petition supporting the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

During his pro-impeachment push, Steyer has collected an active email list of millions of progressive activists. Combined with his willingness to spend apparently limitless amounts of his money in support of Democrats, Steyer has become one of the primary power players on the American left.

Many observers predicted that Steyer would run either for governor of California in 2018 or for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Dianne Feinstein (D), but in a Monday interview, Steyer said, "I’m not going to run for anything. I’ve said all along, the question I always ask is: 'Where can I make the most differential impact?' And when I look at the jobs I can run for in California, they all have reputable Democrats running for them already."

Who's getting the money?

In keeping with his laser-like focus on impeaching Trump, Steyer plans to use $30 million to build his organization, called NextGen Rising, which will focus on increasing millennial voter turnout, according to the Post. The organization will focus on electing Democrats in 34 swing House districts, 24 of which are currently held by Republicans.

Steyer, who has been called the "single biggest liberal donor" over the last two election cycles, will likely also contribute significant sums of his own money directly to Democratic candidates. However, if Steyer's previous statements are to be believed, he will donate only to candidates who promise to support the impeachment of Donald Trump.

Notably, Steyer has not ruled out running for office in 2020.

In his latest quest to have Trump removed from office, he also reportedly bought 535 copies of “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” so he can have the controversial book about Trump hand-delivered to every member of Congress.