BLOOMBERG FILES
Newest Democratic hopeful files for March 17 vote
Michael Bloomberg, left, files with Chris Rhode of the Secretary of State’s Office to run in the Arizona Democratic presidential primary.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he has a history of battling and beating President Donald Trump on big issues, a message he hopes will resonate with Democrats searching for a candidate to defeat him next year.
Speaking Tuesday in Phoenix, where Bloomberg submitted paperwork to qualify for the state’s March 17 primary election, the billionaire said Arizona is a key part of Democratic efforts to win back the White House.
“Arizona, as you know, is a crucial battleground state, but you don’t often see presidential candidates around here,” Bloomberg
told reporters gathered at Rosita’s Place, a Mexican restaurant on East McDowell Road where he met with a small group of community leaders. “The fact is, President Trump is about the only one spending any money here and some of the other swing states around the country. That’s a big problem for our party. I am determined to change exactly that.”
“The path to the presidency goes right through where we are standing right now. This is the road that I’m taking,” Bloomberg continued.
His remarks are among the earliest in a campaign that only officially began Sunday after Bloomberg said he was underwhelmed by the already-long list of Democratic candidates.
Bloomberg outlined his biography and activism on issues such as advocating gun control and battling climate change as examples where Bloomberg has already helped make a difference against Trump.
“I’ve taken on Trump on gun violence and beat him,” Bloomberg said, citing state laws passed with support from his gun-control organization, Everytown for Gun Safety.
“I took on Trump the climate denier and beat him by helping to close more than half of the nation’s dirty coal-fired power plants that pollute our air and threaten our climate,” he said.
Among the shuttered coal-fired plants is Arizona’s Navajo Generating Station, which is largely seen as a casualty of cheaper fuel alternatives.
“I know what it takes to defeat Donald Trump because I already have in New York, in Washington and in statehouses across the country, and I will do it again,” Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg’s campaign has made Arizona an important part of his strategy.
Last week, Bloomberg’s nascent campaign reserved at least $642,000 in TV time in Phoenix and Tucson that began Monday and runs through Dec. 3.
Bloomberg also included Arizona on a list of four other states where he plans to spend at least $15 million to register 500,000 new voters.
Arizona is expected to be a presidential battleground in 2020, but has largely been an afterthought for the Democratic primary up to this point. That’s in part because voting in Arizona’s Democratic presidential preference election, as the state’s primary is formally known, doesn’t end until March 17. Even then it shares that night with Florida, Illinois and Ohio — states with more delegates at stake than Arizona.
Among those who dined with Bloomberg was Fred DuVal, Arizona’s 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee, who said he backs the mayor because of his business friendly record and his experience.
A Reuters/Ipsos national poll earlier this month, taken before he entered the race, found that Bloomberg would enter as the fifth most-popular candidate, with 3% support. His backers would seem to come more from former Vice President Joe Biden than other candidates, the poll found.
Another poll, by Morning Consult, found that Bloomberg had 4% support, but had the highest unfavorability rating among the Democrats in the race at 25%.
Trump’s Republican allies on Tuesday aimed to amplify negative feelings about Bloomberg as he visited Phoenix.
“Michael Bloomberg is an out-oftouch coastal elite whose radical policy ideas plagued New York City during his tenure as mayor,” said Samantha Zager, a spokeswoman for Trump Victory, a joint operation of Trump’s presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee. “Bloomberg entering the already crowded field of Democrat White House hopefuls solidifies the fact that no one in the race has what it takes to beat President Trump. Bloomberg was not good for New York and certainly will not look out for the best interests of Arizonans.”
Bloomberg has moved quickly to make up for lost time. His unconventional campaign is giving Arizona a burst of attention partly because of its late start and out of political necessity.
Bloomberg is essentially bypassing usually critical early caucus and primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire.
Instead, Bloomberg is focusing on the March 3 Super Tuesday states that include California and Texas.