CALIFORNIA — Early voting ballots went out for California's June 2, 2026 gubernatorial primary as Democratic candidate Tom Steyer campaigns on a platform of affordability and higher taxes on the state's wealthiest residents. Steyer, a hedge fund founder with an estimated net worth of $2.4 billion, has said he would vote for a billionaire tax if it reached his desk.

"People are very skeptical of billionaires," Steyer said at a campaign event in East Los Angeles. "I'm skeptical of billionaires because we've seen so many billionaires being selfish and arrogant."

Steyer is seeking to overtake Xavier Becerra, the former federal Health and Human Services secretary and a Latino candidate, in the Democratic primary. California has the world's fourth-largest economy, more billionaires than any other U.S. state, and the highest cost of living in the country. Gas prices in the state topped $6 per gallon during the Iran war.

Steyer founded Farallon Capital Management and left the firm in 2012. He and his wife have funded California ballot measures on tobacco regulation, oil industry regulation, environmental protection and taxing out-of-state corporations to fund schools, registered approximately 1.2 million voters in the state, and supported California's largest provider of services for immigrants. "I have worked full time on behalf of Californians for 14 years," Steyer said.

Steyer has spent $192.4 million on his current campaign, after spending nearly $342 million on his 2020 presidential bid, $325 million on national Democratic candidates and causes, $67.4 million on other state political efforts, and $13.5 million last year backing a California gerrymandering ballot measure. His campaign has aired television ads across local newscasts, sitcoms and niche programming such as the Puppy Bowl.

The California Democratic Socialists of America and the California Federation of Labor Unions, which also endorsed Katie Porter and Antonio Villaraigosa, have endorsed Steyer.

The campaign paid influencer Isaiah "Zay Dante" Washington $10,000 to produce content across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube; Washington posted a sponsored interview with Steyer in March. A campaign memo offered additional content creators $10 per video plus bonuses based on view counts and instructed them to post three to four videos per week on campaign issues without mentioning Steyer or the governor's race.

The campaign also paid Carlos Eduardo Espina, a 27-year-old Uruguayan-American activist based in Houston with more than 22 million social media followers, $100,000 for strategic advice and campaign surrogacy. Espina did not disclose the payment arrangement in his promotional posts. Steyer described him as a "trusted ambassador" for Latino outreach.

"People see me as a content creator, and they think all I do is content. What I do is more of the advising side of things," Espina said. He said he advised Steyer to make campaign stops in California's Central Valley and crowdsourced policy suggestions from his California followers.

"Consistent with state law, payments for creator content are disclosed in campaign finance reports, and we notify creators we directly work with of their disclosure requirements. As a result, we are confident the complaint is baseless," campaign spokesperson Kevin Liao said.