Our live coverage of Tom Steyer’s town hall has ended. Scroll through the posts below to see how it unfolded.
Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer just wrapped up his CNN town hall from Iowa tonight.
In case you missed it, here are five key lines from the event:
When businessman Tom Steyer looks for a role model, he said he looking for “the person who can explain the world in a new way so it makes sense again.”
“What I believe is the biggest thing that anybody in politics can do is to re-explain the world when the country is lost,” Steyer said.
The Democratic presidential hopeful then went on to explain why certain political figures are important to him. Here’s what he said:
Democratic presidential hopeful Tom Steyer said he would support a move toward national referendums to pass laws in the US if it was done carefully.
“I do think it has to be done carefully. I do think the rules are important, but I trust the American people. I’ve traveled around this country, I’ve talked to people. I believe Americans are decent, brave and compassionate. And if we’re going to break the stranglehold these corporations have on our government. to me it’s going to mean more democracy, giving power directly to the people … breaking up structurally, including getting rid of the idea that corporations are people,” he said.
Steyer continued: “We’re going to have to make some changes … But what we have right now is so broken, that we’re going to have to do something differently. And I’m going to trust the American people. And we’re going to design it in a way to try to make it as careful as possible. But they’re going to have to make structural changes.
Why this sounds familiar: The the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in a bitterly fought referendum in June 2016.
In South Carolina, an adviser for Tom Steyer resigned after being outed for accessing volunteer data compiled by Sen. Kamala Harris’ campaign. In Iowa, a Steyer adviser resigned after being accused of offering money in exchange for endorsements.
But on Sunday night, Steyer argued that his reaction to those scandals – and not critics’ suggestion of a culture of impropriety – is what voters should focus on.
By immediately acting to secure resignations from the individuals accused, Steyer said, his campaign was actually functioning as it should.
“That’s exactly what you look for in an organization – that you have rules that are enforced by the organization when something that is not proper occurs,” Steyer said. “You deal with it with the highest possible integrity, you actually walk the walk of doing the right thing, and then you move on.”
Businessman Tom Steyer said the global climate crisis would be his “number one priority” if elected president in 2020, and said he would declare a state of emergency on climate on his first day in office.
The Democratic presidential candidate said if elected he would use the emergency powers of the presidency “to make changes immediately.” He added that the threat the climate crisis poses is only “getting worse.”
He said he would ask Congress to pass a version of the Green New Deal in the first 100 days in office.
He added he does not fly private, and said he hopes nobody else running for the Democratic nomination will choose to fly private.
Asked about a recent spike in anti-Semitism, Tom Steyer laid some of the blame at the feet of President Donald Trump.
“How a president acts is a guide for everybody in society,” Steyer said, noting a rise over the past few years in hate crimes.
To impose his own vision, Steyer promised he would use law enforcement and seek to set a better example.
Businessman Tom Steyer opened up about the positive influence his parents had on his life.
Steyer’s mother was a teacher and his father was a lawyer who he said ended up prosecuting Nazis in Nuremberg.
Steyer said he took their life lessons and applied them to his own future. The father of four said he wanted to earn enough money to take care of his family but he also wanted to have a meaningful life.
So Steyer started “the giving pledge to give more than half my money while I’m alive to good causes and I really started full time organizing of Americans to stand up for our rights against what I thought was unchecked corporate power.”
Businessman Tom Steyer said if elected President he would build on the current health care system and push for a public option, or a government-backed insurance plan.
Steyer said many union workers have negotiated to get health care through their employer.
“And I don’t think it’s right for the government to tell them that we’re going to scrap a 75-year-old system. If you like it, keep doing it,” he said. “If the public option is cheaper and better for you, then you can go to your employer and say pay me the money you’re spending on my health care, I’ll buy the public option.”
Tom Steyer took early aim at fellow billionaire Michael Bloomberg, saying the former New York City mayor must embrace a wealth tax if he is going to pursue the Democratic presidential nomination.
“It’s something every Democrat has got to address and redress,” Steyer said.
Steyer also said he would “undo” all of the tax cuts given to the wealthiest Americans and corporations over the past four decades.
“The distribution of wealth across society is an absolute scandal,” he said.
Watch here:
Businessman Tom Steyer explained tonight why he’s focused much of his energy on his movement to impeach President Trump.
“I started the need to impeach movement over two years ago to try and raise the voice of the American people,” he said. “I thought we had the most corrupt president in history. I thought it was important as a matter of right and wrong that he be held to the same law that everyone else is held to. I’ve been pushing for the American people and 8 million people signed our petition to get to hear what he’s done on televised hearings so we can decide right from wrong.
He continued: “I really look at this, as it is late, but I still believe the proper thing here is for Washington, DC, to hold him to account in the way that Americans have dragged the people in Washington to do the right thing and to see this as a matter of right and wrong in our democracy, not a matter of partisan politics, but a pure matter of patriotism.”
Asked if he was concerned that Trump would use the impeachment inquiry to his political advantage, Steyer said he thinks “the court that counts is the court of public opinion.”
Steyer then said he’s not running to impeach the President, although Steyer’s efforts to impeach Trump have made him the most visible.
Ahead of the midterms last year, billionaire businessman Tom Steyer hit the road to headline dozens of town hall meetings, introducing himself to voters and working to become the face of the impeach President Trump movement.
Now, Steyer’s aides say he has committed spending at least $100 million on his presidential bid in the hopes of toppling another billionaire, Trump, who defied political conventions to win the White House in 2016.
Steyer, a 62-year-old with still-sandy blond hair and a penchant for argyle ties, has operated as a funding force in Democratic politics in recent years, bankrolling candidates and organizations that promote liberal causes, including the impeachment of Trump. Steyer’s net worth reached $1.6 billion this year according to Forbes, a fortune he began amassing in 1986 when he launched his hedge fund Farallon Capital.
The 2018 House races, which Steyer spent over $100 million on, marked the third consecutive election cycle in which Steyer spent millions supporting Democratic candidates. But it’s Steyer’s efforts to impeach Trump which have made him the most visible, starring in self-funded television commercials in which he calls on Congress to remove the President from office.
Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer’s economic agenda is aimed at “ensuring that economic power rests with the American people, not big corporations.”
To address what Steyer calls the “undue influence” of corporate power on the US economy, his plan calls for a $15 minimum wage along with congressional term limits and the repeal of Citizens United.
Steyer said he would “invest in people” with larger allocations to health care and public schools as well as the introduction of five new constitutional rights which include “the right to healthcare, clean air and water, a livable wage, an equal vote, and a quality education.”
He said he would also repeal the Trump tax cuts and install a 1% wealth tax on those whose net worth is above $32 million.
The agenda also outlines plans to “transition the United States to a green economy” and “negotiate trade agreements with vital economic partners.”
Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer, a billionaire businessman, will take questions from voters at CNN’s town hall in Iowa tonight.
CNN’s Brianna Keilar will be moderating the event at Grinnell College.
A new poll from The New York Times and Siena College shows a close race in Iowa with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 22% support, followed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders with 19%, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 18% and former Vice President Joe Biden rounding out the top tier with 17%. The same poll showed Steyer garnered 2% of support.
Before officially launching his campaign in July, Steyer has mainly operated as a funding force in Democratic politics in recent years, bankrolling candidates and organizations that promote liberal causes, including the impeachment of President Trump.
About the town halls: So far, CNN has held 22 separate, hour-long town halls with Democratic presidential candidates this year. In addition, CNN has held individual candidate town halls on specific issues such as climate change, LGBTQ matters and young voters.
