Liberal billionaire Tom Steyer would not dismiss the possibility that he would donate $200 million to the Democratic Party during the 2016 election cycle.
Steyer made his comments Thursday at the Politico Playbook Breakfast hosted by Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman, who were recently passed the torch of the Playbook by Mike Allen.
Palmer asked Steyer to put on his donor "hat."
"Alright, well, let’s transition to your–putting on your hat, in terms of, as a donor," she said. "Obviously, in 2014 you were the single largest donor. You’ve spent $31.5 million in this year’s campaign. A lot of money."
Sherman jumped in and asked Steyer how much money he was going to spend for the remainder of the election.
"I don’t know," Steyer said.
Sherman started throwing out possible numbers.
"$100 million?" Sherman asked.
"I don’t know," Steyer said.
"$200 million?" Sherman asked. "Not $200 million."
Steyer explained that he was going to give however much is necessary to help the Democratic Party.
"I knew you guys wanted me to answer questions," he said. "But, what we’ve always said is we are going to do what we think is necessary to get the point out there."
Steyer is a hedge fund manager who is known for his focus on climate change. His super PAC jumped into the election early on, making two attack ads against Donald Trump that addressed immigration and climate change. The Washington Free Beacon reported on the ads at the time they were released.
The climate change-focused ad, titled "Hoax," aired on CNN, MSNBC, and all three networks’ Sunday news shows in late April and early May. The immigration ad, titled "Wall," was broadcasted on CNN, MSNBC, and Comedy Central in mid-May.
The ads represent Steyer’s first spending directly on a presidential race. Though Steyer is expected to be very active in the presidential contest, NextGen Climate has not made any federal independent expenditures yet this cycle. It dropped nearly $75 million on Senate and gubernatorial contests in 2014.