Bloomberg opens NC HQ on Sunday, promises to send Trump ‘back to Mother Russia’
Pledging to stay in “for the long haul,” Democrat Michael Bloomberg opened the first state headquarters of his presidential campaign Sunday in Charlotte.
Bloomberg’s appearance underscored his strategy of bypassing the early contest states such as Iowa and New Hampshire in favor of states like North Carolina that vote on March 3 or later.
“It’s one of those states that nobody else goes to,” he said of North Carolina. Other candidates, he added, “are all focused on the early four (states) . . . You’re going to have to win the whole country to get the opportunity to take on Donald Trump.”
A CBS News poll Sunday showed Bloomberg in fifth place among Democratic candidates behind former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
The former New York mayor drew nearly 200 people to the opening on North Tryon Street. The crowd included U.S. Rep. Alma Adams as well as as state lawmakers, members of Charlotte’s city council and Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, a national co-chair of the presidential campaign.
Bloomberg was welcomed by council member James Mitchell, his North Carolina campaign director, and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles.
The former mayor was in Charlotte a year ago to announce the city a winner of his American Cities Climate Challenge, a designation that has brought the city more than $2 million. The New York Times reported Sunday that the billionaire businessman has benefited from ties to local leaders around the country helped by his philanthropy.
“I am a better mayor because of Mike Bloomberg,” Lyles told the packed crowd. “We’re a better city because of Mike Bloomberg. And I think this country can be a better country because of Mike Bloomberg.”
As president, Bloomberg said he’d focus on the kind of issues he’s supported with his money. That includes climate change, gun violence, education and health care.
Bloomberg said he’d provide the leadership needed to bring about change.
“I’ll be a president who makes full partners of state and local leaders like Mayor Lyles,” he said. “What I’m good at is getting people together and supporting them.”
He also said he’s the best candidate to beat Republican President Donald Trump.
“Together we can send him back not to Mar-a-Lago but to Mother Russia,” Bloomberg said.
North Carolina is one of more than a dozen states that vote on March 3. Supporters say only a fraction of Democratic convention delegates will be chosen at the February caucuses in Iowa and Nevada and primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina, while two-thirds will be chosen in March. Only nine states will have more than North Carolina’s 122.
But some analysts are skeptical of Bloomberg’s strategy.
“It’s not proven to be a successful strategy in the past,” Josh Putnam, a political scientist who runs Frontloading HQ, a site that tracks the presidential selection process, told the Observer. “We’ve not had a candidate with as many financial resources as he has attempt a strategy like this. Even still, it’s an uphill climb.”
In Charlotte, Bloomberg attracted the curious as well as the committed. Some were in between.
State Rep. Kelly Alexander Jr. said he was “85%” committed to Bloomberg.
“I like what he’s saying,” Alexander said of Bloomberg. “I like his style. I think he’s got an excellent chance of mobilizing people here in North Carolina.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2019 at 5:03 PM.
