Election Class of 2016: Is This 'Green Billionaire' the Left's Answer to the Koch Brothers?

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[Editor's Note: In the run-up to the 2016 election, VICE will be profiling the individuals who are important to the presidential race. Some of them are famous, others you probably won't have heard of before—but all of them will have an outsize impact on how the country decides its future.]

Who is he? Tom Steyer, 58, billionaire hedge fund manager, environmentalist, and co-founder of the NextGen Climate super PAC. Al Gore once called him "Mr. Tipping Point", which is a weird nickname that has something to do with Steyer's efforts against climate change.

Do you know him? That depends. If you're a Democrat, then probably. Steyer has been a fundraising force of nature for the party the post- Citizens United era, donating more than any other individual in the 2014 midterm election, with the explicit goal of electing candidates who agree with his signature platform on combating climate change. In 2014, Steyer's NextGen Climate super PAC spent $74 million—nearly $67 million of which came from his own personal fortune—to elect "green" candidates, and he's almost certain to raise more for the eventual Democratic presidential candidate and other Senate and gubernatorial candidates running in 2016.

Is he effective? Unfortunately, Steyer's record hasn't been so great. In 2014, a generally piss-poor election for Democrats, only three of the candidates Steyer backed won their races. In addition, the billionaire's biggest midterm target—Florida Governor Rick Scott—won his reelection campaign, despite Steyer's efforts to help Scott's opponent Charlie Crist.

But Steyer has also had some real success in other years. He funded opposition to a 2010 California ballot initiative that would have eliminated the state's greenhouse emissions law, and in 2012, led a successful initiative to eliminate a corporate tax break in California and redirect the money into a "Clean Job Creation Fund."

Outside of his home state, Steyer also helped Democrat Terry McAuliffe get elected as governor of Virginia in 2013 by matching the Republican Governor's Association's donation to McAuliffe's opponent with his own money. That same year, Steyer donated significant money and resources to defeat Keystone XL-supporting Congressman Stephen Lynch in the Democratic primary for Massachusetts' US Senate race, although his tactics in that campaign were slightly controversial.

Over the past couple of years, NextGen Climate has also gained a reputation for putting out some very strange campaign ads including a 2014 spot featuring laughing millionaires talking about then-Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst. The most controversial ad, in which an actor playing TransCanada CEO Russ Girling rode the Keystone XL pipeline like a luge, was pulled by NBC.

Why does he matter? While his efforts in the last election cycle may have fallen short, Steyer's enormous wealth and willingness to give a bunch of money to green-focused Democrats and candidates gives liberals an answer to conservative dark money powerhouses Charles and David Koch. Steyer actually met David Koch for the first time in July, and the Atlantic reported that they posted for pictures and later met for coffee. Isn't it sweet when two billionaire political donors can manage to find some common ground?

Steyer, however, rejects comparison to the Koch brothers, and he has a point: The billionaire conservatives haven't been nearly as transparent as Steyer and his super PAC, funneling the money in their political organization through several different PACs and nonprofits , many of which do not disclose their donors. The Kochtopus network is also far more flush than Steyer and his super PAC, spending $400 million in 2012 and more than $250 million in the 2014 midterms. And while Steyer is expected to ramp up contributions in 2016, it's unlikely to come close to the nearly $900 million the Kochs plan to pump into this election cycle.

What does he want? It's tough to say what Steyer's influence has been on the national debate, but it's no coincidence that his chief issue—climate change—has been pushed to the forefront of the Democratic platform. Whereas Democratic candidates in past years have hesitated to talk about global warming in a substantive way, Steyer set a baseline back in July by asking for candidates to commit to making sure that 50 percent of US energy comes from clean sources by 2030 and that all US energy is completely clean by 2050 as a condition of getting his financial support.

So far, it seems that Steyer's efforts are paying off. When Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton unveiled her green energy plan, her campaign staff eagerly noted that it "cleared" Steyer's target. Her opponent, former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, is running for the on an aggressive clean energy platform, and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has been calling climate change the "greatest national security threat" facing the US today. All three have voiced their opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline.

Who is he supporting for president? Steyer, who has been active in Democratic politics for nearly his whole life, hasn't said who he's supporting yet, but we have a good idea who he'll back in the end. He initially supported Clinton in the 2008, and he and his wife hosted a fundraiser for Clinton at their California home back in May.

Steyer has had good things to say about most of the Democratic candidates, though, and a NextGen spokeswoman cited Clinton, O'Malley, and Sanders as "leaders" who "stand up on the campaign trail for climate action." But don't expect Sanders to take Mr. Tipping Point's money: Proving that his crusade against Big Money includes those who agree with his policies, Sanders told CNN's Wolf Blitzer this spring that, "Frankly, it is vulgar to me that we're having a war between billionaires."

Is he ever going to run for office? Steyer's name was mentioned frequently as a possible successor to US Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, when she retires in 2016, but he passed on that race earlier this year. When he made that decision, though, a "source close to Steyer" _told _The Hill__that it "was no longer a question of if or when—but what office" the megadonor would eventually decide to pursue. The word now is that Steyer could run for governor of California in 2018. He launched a committee "Fair Shake Commission" dedicated to combating income inequality in August, intensifying speculation .

For now, however, Steyer is dedicating most of efforts toward electing likeminded candidates around the country. His NextGen Climate super PAC has already spent $6.6 million this election cycle, and some have predicted that the figure could easily rise to well over $100 million by next November. And if liberals are going to be competitive with Koch-funded conservatives, they're going to need it.

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