Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) extended a chilly welcome to Michael Bloomberg following his official entry into the presidential race, with Sanders proclaiming that “billionaires like Mr. Bloomberg are not going to get very far in this election.”
The former New York City mayor made his presidential bid official on Sunday following weeks of speculation and a multimillion-dollar ad buy spanning approximately 100 cities.
“I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America,” Bloomberg wrote.
“We cannot afford four more years of President Trump’s reckless and unethical actions,” he continued. “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.”
Both Sanders and Warren, who issued criticisms weeks ago after rumors of the billionaire’s presidential aspirations began to surface, are taking issue with his presidential bid, accusing him of trying to buy the election.
“We do not believe that billionaires have the right to buy elections. That is why we’re going to overturn Citizens United. That is why multi-billionaires like Mr. Bloomberg are not going to get very far in this election,” Sanders said at a Worker Appreciation Tour town hall in Hillsboro, New Hampshire, on Sunday.
Sanders added that in all the times he has run for office, it had never occurred to him to ponder how to “suppress the vote of [his] opponents.”
“If I can’t win an election based on my ideas, I shouldn’t win that election,” he said:
Warren slammed Bloomberg’s multimillion-dollar ad campaign in a tweet on Saturday, the day prior to his formal announcement.
“Mike Bloomberg is placing $34 million in TV ads in one week—the most of any presidential candidate in history,” she wrote.
“That’s one way to pay less under my #WealthTax. Because in a Warren administration, he and his billionaire friends would finally have to pay their fair share,” she added:
Sanders has sharply criticized Bloomberg’s strategy of focusing on Super Tuesday states and virtually ignoring Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.
“Our campaign is going to end the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality which exists in America today,” Sanders told a crowd in Coralville, Iowa, this month.
“So tonight, we say to Michael Bloomberg and other billionaires, ‘Sorry, you ain’t going to buy this election,'” he continued.
“You’re not going to get elected president by avoiding Iowa, by avoiding New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. You’re not going to buy this election by spending hundreds of millions of dollars on media in California,” he added. “Those days are gone”:
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