Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is preparing to run for president in a bid to take on President Trump in 2020, according to a new report.
The 76-year-old billionaire investor has told those close to him that he plans to run in 2020, according to The Times, adding another name to a field that is likely to include top-tier Democrats like Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Bloomberg previously considered a run for the presidency in 2012, but backed out after he feared he would divide the Democratic ticket.
Boomberg has promised to spend upwards of $80 million in support of Democratic candidates for Congress in this year’s midterm elections.
[Related: Michael Bloomberg raises money for Republican, despite vow to help Democrats]
Bloomberg has been an outspoken critic of Trump since the president took office. In January 2017, Bloomberg said that Trump’s policies are putting the U.S. on track in the “wrong direction,” arguing against his protectionist trade policies and other populist planks.
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said last month that Bloomberg would make for a “very, very competitive” race against Trump if he decided to run.
“He checks many, many boxes in the progressive movement: He’s exceptionally wealthy, has 100 percent name I.D. [and] he’s willing to self-fund a race because he put $100 million dollars into his own race for mayor of New York City,” Lewandowski said.
“It would be a very, very competitive race and it would be a race that wouldn’t require an enormous amount of time fundraising,” Lewandowski said. “They would just be on the campaign trail the entire time and you would get much more.”
