Billionaire Steyer moves U.S. youth voter turnout drive off campus and
online
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[July 31, 2020]
By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With many colleges
empty this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic, billionaire progressive
activist Tom Steyer's campaign to boost youth voter turnout has gone
all-digital, replacing campus events with text messages, phone calls and
online ads, he told Reuters in an interview.
The shift to online outreach will be an effective way to get young
people to cast their ballots, said Steyer, a former hedge fund manager
who campaigned as a Democratic presidential hopeful and has spent
hundreds of millions of dollars boosting progressive issues and
advocating for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
"NextGen was on 421 college campuses in 2018,” he said, referring to the
youth voter group he founded. “We are zero today. But we think we will
be more effective than ever" using digital outreach instead of
face-to-face events, he said.
On Tuesday, NextGen used 6,000 volunteers with smartphones to send text
messages to more than 3.6 million under-35 voters, Steyer said, an
effort that cost roughly $200,000 and secured more than 10,000 pledges
to request absentee ballots and vote by mail.
That was about a third the number of text messages NextGen sent out in
all of 2016, he said. The group plans to follow up with one-on-one phone
conversations, digital ads, mail, and social media outreach, NextGen
director Ben Wessel said by email.
The digital campaign could also be much cheaper than past efforts.
NextGen announced in May it would spend $45 million this cycle, less
than half the $96 million it spent during the last presidential campaign
in 2016.
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Democratic Presidential candidate entrepreneur Tom Steyer
speaks during his Get Out the Vote rally in Columbia, South
Carolina, U.S., on February 28, 2020, the day before the
South Carolina Presidential Primary. REUTERS/Mark Makela
Steyer's multimillion-dollar campaigns have had a mixed record. In
February, he abandoned his bid for the Democratic Presidential
nomination after spending nearly $300 million, and his $75 million
initiative Need to Impeach to oust Trump was shut down in April.
He said he is focused on using his fundraising strength and
commitment to fighting climate change to mobilize support for
presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
NextGen is part of Give Green, which raises money for
environmentally minded down-ballot candidates. Steyer is also using
his deep-pocketed contacts to raise money through his Climate
Leaders for Biden effort.
"We are seeing climate as a huge motivator for young voters," he
said.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by David Gregorio)
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