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Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmentalist and Democratic political donor, announced Monday that his advocacy group, NextGen America, will spend $30 million to help Democrats retake the House in 2018, with the aim of eventually impeaching President Trump.
Mr. Steyer also announced that he would not run for Senate or governor in California, as had been speculated.
Mr. Steyer, who was a major donor to President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign, emerged as the largest single political donor of the 2014 midterm election. His group spent $74 million to back Democrats that year, and $87 million in the 2016 elections.
But most of the candidates he backed in those elections lost. This time, he said, his strategy will shift. Rather than focusing on climate change as an issue to rally young voters, as he had tried since 2010, he will focus on whatever issues will help Democrats win a majority in the House — in order to impeach Mr. Trump.
“We are really focused on removing this president,” Mr. Steyer said.
Last fall, Mr. Steyer’s group began a television and media campaign calling for impeachment. At a news conference here Monday, he made clear that the advertising, largely on cable news channels, that has featured his own call for impeachment is only the beginning.
“I am willing to do whatever it takes to help save our country. I feel the most important task for me is organizing,” he said, adding: “A year ago, no one knew what a Donald Trump presidency would look like, or how he would behave. We now know that the Oval Office cannot reshape a man who does not believe in constitutional democracy.”
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