Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who spent hundreds of millions on his 2020 Democratic presidential bid before dropping out, plans to infuse at least US$100 million (S$136.80 million) in Florida to help Democrat Joe Biden’s effort against Republican President Donald Trump in an important swing state, The Washington Post reported on Sunday (Sept 13).
He exited the presidential race pledging to spend “whatever it takes” to defeat Trump, and has already invested millions to support Democrats up and down the ballot. Bloomberg transferred $18 million from his presidential campaign to the Democratic National Committee, and transferred its offices in six key swing states to the local Democratic parties there.
The businessman has contributed $500,000 to Voto Latino to help register Latino voters, $2 million to the group Collective Future to help register African American voters, and $2 million to Swing Left, a group focused on electing Democrats in swing districts. One of the groups he has founded and funds, Everytown for Gun Safety, has committed to spending $60 million on elections this cycle, and Bloomberg himself has pledged another $60 million to support Democrats in House races.
Bloomberg advisers said the former New York City mayor made his decision last week after news reports that Mr Trump was considering spending up to US$100 million of his own cash in his adopted state, the newspaper said.
The Republican President, who trails Mr Biden in national opinion polls before the Nov 3 election, told reporters last week that he would spend his own money if needed.
Mr Trump’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee on Wednesday said they raised a combined US$210 million in August, falling far short of matching Mr Biden’s record-breaking haul of US$364.5 million for the month.
Polls in Florida have tightened in recent weeks and Mr Bloomberg thought that was a good place to focus on, his advisers told the Post.
“Voting starts on Sept 24 in Florida so the need to inject real capital in that state quickly is an urgent need,” Bloomberg adviser Kevin Sheekey told the Post.
“Mike believes that by investing in Florida it will allow campaign resources and other Democratic resources to be used in other states, in particular the state of Pennsylvania.”
The New York Times last week reported that Mr Trump’s initial financial supremacy over former vice-president Biden earlier this year had evaporated, and that of the US$1.1 billion his campaign and the party raised from the beginning of 2019 through July, more than US$800 million already had been spent. REUTERS/AP
