Mike Bloomberg
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The billionaire has quit the race to the White House and endorsed former vice president Joe Biden.
Michael Bloomberg has pulled out of the 2020 presidential race after three months of aggressively campaigning. Today, the candidate announced this decision following immense support for former vice president Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Super Tuesday. Bloomberg won American Samoa, a U.S. territory that has no electoral votes in the election.
READ: Five New Yorkers Describe How Michael Bloomberg's Era of Stop-and-Frisk Changed New York City
According to the New York Times, Bloomberg has endorsed Biden and stated that he has the best shot at defeating Donald Trump. The former New York City mayor has been running through millions of his fortune with hopes of winning support from Democrats throughout his campaign. He reportedly spent half a billion dollars in advertising alone. A major part of his funds went directly to on-the-ground operations, backing his campaign were 200 field offices throughout the country. Yet, this didn't prove to win over Democrats in the U.S.
Despite garnering lackluster support from the party of his choice, Bloomberg has expressed why he doesn't believe Sanders should receive the nomination in addition to why Trump should not be re-elected. He believes Sanders won't win if he's put up against the current president. "I don’t think the country wants revolutionary change," he said. "I think the country wants evolutionary change, and Sanders is a very revolutionary kind of guy."
Recently Bloomberg has received quite a bit of pushback for his "stop and frisk" policy which was largely used while he was mayor of New York City. A few weeks back, a voice recording surfaced including Bloomberg stating that the policy targeted young minorities in minority neighborhoods. He also argued in the recording that the communities were targeted "because that's where all the crime is."
There were even some Democrats who didn't support Bloomberg due to him switching over to their party. He had previously won his mayorship as a Republican twice.
Despite the above, Bloomberg still spent surprising amounts of money on his campaign. He reportedly paid his 2,400 staff members large salaries and his campaign events (particularly one in Miami) were equipped with large amounts of free merchandise and were catered.
At the moment, Bloomberg could still prove to be an important factor in the race to the White House. He has reportedly pledged to continue providing resources to un-seating Trump and "deploying" his main field offices to support the forthcoming nominee.
Source: The New York Times
