California billionaire Tom Steyer has traveled through Iowa and the rest of the country for the past couple of years, arguing President Trump should be impeached. Steyer announced early this afternoon he will make some sort of revelation about his own “political plans for 2019 and beyond” during a news conference in Des Moines tomorrow afternoon.
Steyer says he spent $120 million dollars on grassroots organizing in battleground states like Iowa to benefit Democrats running in 2018. The Steyer-funded group “NextGenAmerica” had paid staff in Iowa, focused on registering and turning out younger voters. His “Need to Impeach” organization hosted events in central and eastern Iowa as well.
A Texan who intends to make an announcement this weekend about his White House intentions stopped by a house party in eastern Iowa last night to visit with Iowa Democratic Party activists. Julian Castro told the crowd at the Johnson County “Potluck Insurgency” in North Liberty that the current president is determined to divide rather than unite the country.
“What I see in our country today is that for the first time in a long time, we’re going backward,” Castro said.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette recorded Castro’s brief speech. Castro said his goals were to make America the “smartest, the healthiest, the fairest and the most prosperous nation in the world,” drawing applause.
Castro added: “What we really need in order to prosper is a vision, a direction.”
Castro, a 44-year-old whose twin is a member of congress, is the former mayor of San Antonio. He served in the Obama Administration as head of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development. Castro formed an “exploratory committee” on December 12, the first step toward entering the 2020 presidential race.