Michael Bloomberg’s plan to field a massive shadow political party could significantly undercut key financial and organizational advantages President Trump might otherwise enjoy against his Democratic challenger.
The former New York City mayor is investing hundreds of millions on a ground game and digital operation as part of his long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination. But Bloomberg, 77, is promising to put his campaign to work for whoever wins the party’s 2020 nod, immediately bridging a huge resource gap with Trump the Democratic National Committee is too depleted to handle.
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Federal law prohibits Bloomberg’s organization from coordinating with, or being handed off to, the Democratic nominee in the way the GOP nominee, in this case Trump, is permitted to assume command of the Republican National Committee and its extensive campaign operation. That could hinder Bloomberg’s effect. But Republican insiders concede his play could remarkably improve the eventual Democratic nominee’s chances of defeating Trump.
“If he’s going to put hundreds of millions into a presidential campaign, damn right it will have an effect. It’s called buying an election,” Republican operative Mike Shields told the Washington Examiner. Shields was a top deputy to Reince Priebus at the RNC immediately after President Barack Obama’s reelection, when Priebus, as chairman, spent tens of millions of dollars to build turn-key, get-out-the-vote, and data analytics programs for use by all future GOP presidential nominees.
The decision paid huge dividends in 2016.
Trump won the Republican nomination that year with a shoestring campaign and had to contend with a better-funded and more-organized Hillary Clinton. Leaning heavily on the RNC, Trump caught up quickly. This election cycle, the president has the upper hand in money and manpower, with Democratic contenders squabbling among themselves, months away from crowning a nominee and pivoting to Trump.
Bloomberg, who is spending freely from a personal fortune worth billions, could improve the Democratic nominee’s competitiveness, both with his financial largess and by reducing the lag time to ramp up caused by the need to fundraise. His plans to do so, whether the nominee or not, were first reported Friday by NBC News. “He is dedicated to getting Trump out of the White House,” Bloomberg’s campaign manager said.
The RNC and the Trump campaign both dismissed Bloomberg’s strategy as irrelevant.
“Liberal billionaires can spend as much outside money as they want, but the eventual nominee cannot coordinate with anything they build,” RNC spokesman Steve Guest said.
Added the Trump campaign’s Erin Perrine: “He will never be able to match the ground game and data operation of President Trump and the RNC.”
