Bloomberg: De Blasio running ‘racist’ campaign

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in an interview that one leading Democrat vying to replace him is running a “racist” campaign based on “class warfare.”

Bloomberg made the comment about candidate Bill de Blasio in an interview with New York magazine due on newsstands Monday. It appeared on the magazine’s website Saturday.

De Blasio is white, but he has been polling well among blacks since he began airing television ads featuring his interracial family.

His wife is black and the couple has a son and a daughter. De Blasio has also criticized Bloomberg as not doing enough for the poor, saying New York has become “two cities,” one for the rich and one for everyone else.

In asking Bloomberg about the mayor’s race, the interviewer calls de Blasio’s bid “in some ways, a class-warfare campaign.” Bloomberg interjects, “class-warfare and racist,” according to the magazine.

Asked to explain what makes de Blasio’s campaign racist, Bloomberg responded, “Well, no, no, I mean he’s making an appeal using his family to gain support. I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone watching what he’s been doing. I do not think he himself is racist. It’s comparable to me pointing out I’m Jewish in attracting the Jewish vote.”

Bloomberg, a self-made billionaire, said he also found de Blasio’s “two cities” rhetoric divisive.

New York’s wealthiest residents, he said, contribute tremendously to the city and also deliver a huge amount of tax revenue that gives the city financial muscle that other municipalities lack.

“The way to help those who are less fortunate is, number one, to attract more very fortunate people,” Bloomberg said.