Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is preparing to file paperwork to run for president in at least one state with an early filing deadline, according to a report.
The New York Times stated Thursday evening that Bloomberg is expected to complete paperwork for the Democrat Party’s presidential primary in Alabama before this Friday’s deadline. However, the Times said the 77-year-old has yet to officially make up his mind about seeking the highest office in the land.
“We now need to finish the job and ensure that Trump is defeated — but Mike is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned to do that,” Howard Wolfson, a longtime Bloomberg, told Politico.
“If Mike runs he would offer a new choice to Democrats built on a unique record running America’s biggest city, building a business from scratch and taking on some of America’s toughest challenges as a high-impact philanthropist,” added Wolfson.
The development comes after Bloomberg signaled last month that he had not ruled out a presidential bid, privately telling associates that he has doubts that former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) could defeat President Donald Trump in 2020. Bloomberg, who Forbes magazine estimates has a net worth of $51 billion, is believed to be prepared to spend $100 million on a White House bid if he jumped into the crowded race.
“Mike has the infrastructure and the team waiting on ice, which he can quickly mobilize. There are indications that he’s preparing to make a run,” one source told the New York Post.
“People are just waiting for him to give the sign. Indications are that he’s considering a run after turning the page a few months ago,” the sourced added.
In March, Bloomberg ruled out a 2020 bid, telling friends that he was “clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field.”
“While there would be no higher honor than serving as president, my highest obligation as a citizen is to help the country the best way I can, right now. That’s what I’ll do, including the launch of a new effort called Beyond Carbon,” the billionaire said at the time.
Bloomberg has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to promote progressive causes, including gun control and climate change and donated over $100 million to help elect competitive Democrat candidates in the 2018 midterm elections.
Speaking to the Associated Press in January, the billionaire said he would make combating so-called global warming one of his top priorities if elected president. “Climate change could destroy the whole world and kill everyone on it,” he told the news outlet. “It’s frustrating that a lot of people don’t understand that.
Bloomberg raised eyebrows in September for claiming that Chinese Communist Party chairman Xi Jinping is “not a dictator,” arguing the country’s so-called environmental policies show the communist leader answers to a “constituency.”
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