After weeks of speculation, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg officially announced a last-minute bid for the Democratic presidential candidacy on Sunday.
I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America.
I believe my unique set of experiences in business, government, and philanthropy will enable me to win and lead.
Join our team: https://t.co/7ezlUeouqH pic.twitter.com/IyOeS3aWaF
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) November 24, 2019
“I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America,” Bloomberg wrote in a statement on his campaign website. “We cannot afford four more years of President Trump’s reckless and unethical actions. He represents an existential threat to our country and our values. If he wins another term in office, we may never recover from the damage.”
The timing of Bloomberg’s announcement is unusual with the Iowa caucuses just 10 weeks away. Bloomberg and his advisers had indicated earlier that he would skip the early February primaries and caucuses in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, and instead focus on Califonia and Texas, which have the first- and second-largest delegate troves of the primary, respectively, on Super Tuesday in March.
Bloomberg has been busy trying to court prominent Democrats such as Harry Reid of Nevada and Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association.
This is not the first time Bloomberg, 77, has toyed with the notion of entering the presidential race. He was ready to enter the 2016 presidential race as an independent before backing out. He again flirted with running early in the cycle this time around before holding back.
His centrist views and large war chest make him an interesting alternative to the more progressive frontrunners, such as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Those two would most likely go after the founder of Bloomberg Media Group for being independently wealthy and supporting the practice of “stop and frisk” while he was mayor.
The Massachusetts Senator has ripped into the idea of another billionaire swooping into the campaign. Before Bloomberg officially launched his campaign, Warren called his potential candidacy “another example of the wealthy wanting our government and economy to only work for themselves” in a fundraising message.
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