Rivals of Michael Bloomberg for the 2020 Democratic nomination are stepping up their attacks on the billionaire as his unlimited spending threatens their chances. And he’s hitting back.
While the Nevada and South Carolina contests still lay ahead in February, 2020 Democrats see Bloomberg’s wallet as the biggest threat on Tuesday, March 3, when 14 states and entities, including delegate troves California and Texas, weigh-in on the race.
They sharpened their attacks on Bloomberg, 78, this weekend. The former mayor of New York City found himself having to fend off scrutiny of his past discriminatory policing and housing policy positions, as well as allegations of sexist comments and mistreatment of women at his company, Bloomberg LP.
“We will not create the energy and excitement we need to defeat Donald Trump if that candidate pursued, advocated for, and enacted racist policies like stop and frisk, which forced communities of color in his city to live in fear,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 78, said this weekend in Las Vegas ahead of the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 22.
Bloomberg, who will for the first time this cycle appear on caucus card and ballots on Super Tuesday, in turn, returned fire at Sanders on Monday. In his first negative ad targeting a Democratic opponent, he blasted the senator for not reeling in his supporters who last week went after Culinary Union members who publicly opposed his “Medicare for all” plan.
“We need to unite to defeat Trump in November. This type of ‘energy’ is not going to get us there,” he tweeted in response to a clip of Sanders’s remarks.
We need to unite to defeat Trump in November. This type of “energy” is not going to get us there. https://t.co/bPuUZMs2d6 pic.twitter.com/Tdp6mpWjcX
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) February 17, 2020
The video will likely further rattle the 2020 field, which was already on edge about Bloomberg’s $400 million-plus spending on advertising and his campaign organization of more than 2,000 people. The three-term mayor had promised to aim the majority of his salvos at President Trump and donate his infrastructure to the contender who eventually became the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 70, an ideological ally of Sanders, this weekend echoed her senatorial colleague’s line of attack. While admitting she would accept Bloomberg’s money during the general election should she win her party’s nod, she bristled at the idea that his deep pockets rendered him the most electable Democrat to take on Trump in the fall.
“A deal with the devil implies that you’re actually getting something for it. We’re not better off putting up a billionaire. That does not increase the odds that we win,” she told reporters in Las Vegas.
Though mostly reticent to swing at her competitors, Warren hasn’t extended the same courtesy to Bloomberg on the campaign trail or in debates after a long history of clashes over her stance against Wall Street. Last week, she jabbed at Bloomberg over his 2008 comments, in which he linked a crackdown on “redlining” with the financial crisis.
Joe Biden, 77, last week, signaled the inevitability of criticism being heaped on Bloomberg for his past position on stop and frisk and indicated his eagerness to debate him on the issues. The two-term No. 2 to former President Barack Obama then added escalated tensions during a rare Sunday news show appearance on NBC. Delaware’s senator for 36 years stands to lose the most from an ascendant Bloomberg, who entered the primary almost a year after a plurality of the pack because of a flailing Biden.
“Anyway, the point is that $60 billion can buy you a lot of advertising, but it can’t erase your record,” the former vice president said. “But if you notice, he wouldn’t even endorse Barack in 2008. He wouldn’t endorse him. You know, he endorsed Bush. He endorsed, you know, the Republican before that. All of a sudden, he’s his best buddy.”
The hypothetical nature of Bloomberg’s candidacy is about to become very real for the rest of the contenders should he qualify for this week’s Nevada debate in Las Vegas.
Although it’s not known whether he’ll appear on stage even if he does meet the polling criteria, it’s only a possibility after the Democratic National Committee dropped its grassroots fundraising threshold, a standard that shut out the self-funding media mogul and philanthropist from previous rounds.
The DNC’s move drew sharp rebukes from hopefuls, such as Sanders, because some also-rans bowed out of contention over the benchmark. But Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, 59, another candidate who could miss out on center-left votes if Bloomberg continues to rise, said she welcomed him to debate, or at the very least do TV interviews, instead of hiding “behind the airwaves.”
“I think he should be on that debate stage, which eventually he will be, because I can’t beat him on the airwaves, but I can beat him on the debate stage. And I think people of America deserve that to make a decision,” she told NBC this weekend.
