Free Bacon and $13 Million in Ads Have Made Tom Steyer a Household Name in S.C.
SUMTER, S.C.—During a low-key breakfast meet and greet with voters the day before the South Carolina primary, 18-year-old Forrest rose and asked Tom Steyer a question: he was undecided between the race’s three frontrunners—Steyer, Joe Biden, and Sen. Bernie Sanders—so why should he support Steyer?
It was a typical question, but Steyer being ranked among the frontrunners is a distinctly South Carolina phenomenon. So far, the hedge fund billionaire has earned marginal levels of support in the first three states, and he’s basically a blip on the radar in the Super Tuesday states that vote next.
But Steyer has spent the better part of his campaign for president camped out in South Carolina, pouring an enormous amount of his time and resources—most of it from his own personal fortune—toward winning over Democratic voters in the first-in-the-South primary, 60 percent of whom are African-American. If polls and on the ground buzz are any indication, his effort has been fairly successful.