One of the world’s richest men and former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg announced his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sunday by promising to “rebuild America” and defeat President Donald Trump.
The announcement, which Bloomberg telegraphed for weeks even after deciding earlier this year to not run, reflects his view that the current field of Democratic candidates is not well-positioned to win in 2020.
Bloomberg has promised a disruptive campaign that could break spending records with a massive advertising buy aimed at states that vote in March and April. The New York Times has called Bloomberg “a multibillion-dollar threat to President Trump.”
“I believe my unique set of experiences in business, government, and philanthropy will enable me to win and lead,” Bloomberg said in a statement on his redesigned campaign website. “As a candidate, I’ll rally a broad and diverse coalition of Americans to win. And as president, I have the skills to fix what is broken in our great nation. And there is a lot broken.”
In an accompanying video, Bloomberg offered a preview of what he will focus on in the race, including his philanthropic work fighting gun violence, closing coal-fired power plants and funding medical research. Without offering specifics, his announcement video says he will push for the wealthy to pay more in taxes and to guarantee health care to all Americans without removing private insurance from anyone who wants it.
As a former Republican Bloomberg has expressed reservations about his adopted party’s leftward drift, and in a statement said that he would offer a pragmatic option to voters in a campaign to unseat a president who “represents an existential threat to our country and our values.”
His campaign has made more than $30 million in television advertising reservations to help introduce him as a candidate. The ads will start on Monday. He also has plans for what advisers call an “aggressive and robust digital strategy.” Bloomberg has also announced a $100 million ad campaign to criticize Trump in key battleground states and a $15 million voter registration effort in those same places. Those initial spending plans are already double the amount raised by top fundraisers in the Democratic field, Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., through September.
Meanwhile, Sanders who has described his own campaign as a fight against the billionaire class has been critical of Bloomberg’s entry into the race.
We do not believe that billionaires have the right to buy elections.
That is why multi-billionaires like Michael Bloomberg are not going to get very far in this election. pic.twitter.com/738Eg5ssLe
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 24, 2019
“I’m disgusted by the idea that Michael Bloomberg or any other billionaire thinks they can circumvent the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy our elections,” Sanders said Friday in a statement. “It’s just the latest example of a rigged political system that we are going to change when we’re in the White House.”
The initial Bloomberg ad campaign, in English and Spanish, will focus on his biography in an effort to introduce himself to voters. “Mike is not nearly as well known to Democratic voters as some of the other contestants,” campaign adviser Howard Wolfson said. “When they learn of his unique set of accomplishments in business, government and philanthropy they respond very positively. His story is compelling, middle-class kid who made good and did well.”
Wolfson said Bloomberg, who has a net worth of more than $50 billion, would release his tax returns over the course of the campaign, though he has not set a date to do so. Bloomberg does not plan to raise any money for his race, though his campaign signaled an aggressive effort to attract volunteers and build an email list of supporters. His campaign will have an online store of campaign merchandise.
One of the first products is a T-shirt with one of his favorite aphorisms, “In God we trust. Everyone else bring data.”