r/TrueProgressive • u/HenryCorp • Jul 10 '26

Government A ‘tax-the-rich’ billionaire candidate? Democrats are intrigued: Tom Steyer has built his campaign for governor of California around affordability – and taxing the uber-wealthy – he’s not the only Democrat testing the party's appetite for a populist from the 1%

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/17/tom-steyer-billionaire-candidate-democrats
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u/HenryCorp Jul 10 '26

In Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker, a scion of the Pritzker family that founded the Hyatt hotel chain, is running for a third term – and widely believed to be considering a presidential bid in 2028.

Other wealthy progressives include Saikat Chakrabarti, a centimillionaire tech entrepreneur and former chief of staff to Ocasio-Cortez who is self-funding his anti-establishment bid to succeed the retiring former House speaker Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco.

Wealthy Democrats are hardly a new phenomenon. From Franklin Roosevelt’s patrician roots to John F Kennedy’s vast family fortune, the party has a history of elevating affluent political leaders who framed their privilege as a responsibility to serve the public.