Senator Elizabeth Warren's (D., Mass.) campaign attacked billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer in a fundraising email after Steyer announced he was entering the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
"Tom Steyer announced that he's running for president, and that he plans to spend at least $100 million of his own money to try to win," the email reads, "Look: It’s good to have a competitive primary. But here's the thing: We need our candidates to compete to have the best ideas — not just to write themselves the biggest checks."
Warren has pushed a wealth tax that she calls the "Ultra-Millionaire Tax," which could possibly be unconstitutional. Warren herself has been in the top one percent of economic earners for nearly every year since at least 2008.
The email also says, "The Democratic primary shouldn’t be decided by billionaires, whether they're funding Super PACs or funding themselves. If you're a billionaire, you can already buy yourself a mansion, a private island, and even a yacht to get yourself there. But you shouldn’t be able to buy yourself the White House — not without a fair fight on a level playing field."
Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) also hit Steyer for entering the race, telling MSNBC on Tuesday, "billionaires should not be able to spend unlimited sums of money trying to buy elections."
Steyer, who entered the race on Tuesday, has already spent $1.4 million on an ad campaign in the four early primary states, the largest ad buy in the race so far.