‘Attempt to buy the presidency’: 2020 Democrats slam looming Bloomberg bid

“We already have one self-funding billionaire in this race, and … it looks like we just got another,” Booker’s campaign said in an email. “Michael Bloomberg will likely be spending millions of his own personal fortune to fund his campaign.”

Also seeking the nomination is businessman Tom Steyer, who made a multibillion-dollar fortune in hedge funds.

The fundraising email from Warren’s campaign identified Bloomberg as “one of the first billionaires to attack Elizabeth’s plan for a wealth tax,” her proposal to levy a 2% surcharge on fortunes over $50 million to pay for universal healthcare, forgiveness of student loans, and an array of social programs.

“Let’s call Michael Bloomberg’s attempt to buy the presidency for what it is: Yet another example of the wealthy wanting our government and economy to only work for themselves,” Warren’s campaign said. “When faced with the prospect of paying his fair share in taxes so that we can level the playing field for working families, Bloomberg has chosen to protect his wealth over everyone else — and that’s why he’d rather spend enormous amounts of money on a presidential run than pay taxes.”

Warren also “welcomed” Bloomberg to the race in a tweet Thursday night by suggesting he consider her wealth tax if he is “looking for policy plans that will make a huge difference for working people and which are very popular.”

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders appeared to indirectly reference Boomberg in a tweet Thursday evening. “The billionaire class is scared and they should be scared,” said Sanders, a socialist who tweeted on Sept. 24, “There should be no billionaires. We are going to tax their extreme wealth and invest in working people.”

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who signed into law some of the strictest state campaign finance laws and is the only Democratic presidential candidate utilizing public financing, sarcastically tweeted: “Swell. Another billionaire thinking that the Democratic nomination is for sale.”

Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, a multimillionaire who has largely self-funded his presidential campaign, took a different tone than his primary competitors and countered a suggestion that people in the future would wonder why Bloomberg decided to launch a presidential bid rather than help an existing candidate.

“Or maybe they might ask ‘why did we go down the path of even considering candidates that wanted to force the majority of the country to fundamentally change how they and their families receive healthcare coverage?'” Delaney tweeted.