California billionaire and climate change activist Tom Steyer is launching a $25-million effort to register young voters.
Steyer’s group, NextGen Climate Action, announced Monday that it plans to deploy organizers to hundreds of college campuses in seven states ahead of the November election.
“They have the most at stake,” Steyer said of young voters. “We’re determined that they will be a difference-maker.”
Steyer, who has been said to be considering a run for California governor, has spent tens of millions of dollars in previous elections backing candidates who support boosting renewable energy and other efforts aimed at combating climate change.
He spent $74 millio
n in 2014 alone, leading some to describe him as the Democratic equivalent of the Koch brothers.
His group’s latest effort aims to shape politics by changing the makeup of the electorate. Polls show that younger voters are more likely than their older counterparts to believe that global warming is an important issue that must be addressed.
The new registration drive will target college students in Ohio, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire, several of which are swing states in presidential elections.