Michael Bloomberg 2020 presidential campaign
The 2020 presidential campaign of Michael Bloomberg commenced in November 2019, later than most other campaigns for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Bloomberg opted not to compete in the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, instead beginning his campaign with the Super Tuesday states. He financed the campaign himself, spending more than $1 billion and refusing campaign donations. His campaign heavily relied on advertising, including the use of nationally aired television ads, social media influencers, and billboards in high-visibility locations.
On Super Tuesday, when Democratic primaries were held in 14 states, Bloomberg won only the territory of American Samoa. He also missed the 15% threshold for proportional delegates in several states. Bloomberg ended his campaign on March 4, 2020, endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, and announced an effort to use his campaign infrastructure to support Biden's primary bid and the eventual Democratic nominee. Bloomberg's lack of success with voters was attributed to poor debate performances; his one-time approval of stop-and-frisk in New York City; and allegations of a sexist working environment at his company, Bloomberg LP.
Background
Michael Bloomberg is a billionaire businessman who served as mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013. At various times in his life, he has been a Democrat, a Republican, and an independent.On March 5, 2019, Bloomberg announced that he would not run for president in 2020; instead, he encouraged the Democratic Party to "nominate a Democrat who will be in the strongest position to defeat Donald Trump". Sometime during the spring of 2019, Bloomberg also founded Hawkfish, a data and tech start-up focused on supporting Democratic candidates. The company was reportedly active in Virginia and Kentucky elections, before shifting focus to the Bloomberg campaign.
On October 14, 2019, a day before the Democratic Party's fourth presidential debate, it was reported that Bloomberg was "still looking at" entering the race if Joe Biden were to drop out, but that "nothing can happen unless Biden drops out", according to an unnamed source reported to be close to the situation.
Fellow billionaire Warren Buffett had expressed his approval of a potential Bloomberg presidential campaign as early as February 2019.
Activities prior to campaign launch
On November 7, 2019, Bloomberg announced that he was taking steps to enter the 2020 United States presidential election. On November 19, he gave three separate donations of $106,500 each to the Democratic National Committee, along with $800,000 to the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund. Bloomberg stated that he would begin his campaign with the Super Tuesday states, not competing in Iowa or New Hampshire. He did not attend his company's second annual New Economy Forum in Beijing on November 20, a sign that his developing presidential campaign was now "dead serious". The summit was on the same day as one of the Democratic presidential primary debates in Atlanta.The campaign was headquartered at facilities provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
On November 21, 2019, Bloomberg filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission to declare himself as a Democratic candidate for president. Bloomberg stated that this was not a formal announcement, but a step towards making one if he decided to run.
Campaign history
Bloomberg officially declared his candidacy on November 24, 2019 during a campaign event in Virginia as well as in a YouTube campaign spot touting himself as a "doer and a problem solver". The campaign subsequently kicked off a television advertising campaign in about 100 markets within the Super Tuesday states, which were to contribute about 40 percent of total pledged delegates at the Democratic National Convention.Bloomberg announced that he would finance his campaign personally, and would not accept donations. In addition to spending on advertising, Bloomberg's campaign set aside between $15 million to $20 million to register a half million voters in five battleground states that had swung to Trump in 2016.
According to editor-in-chief John Micklethwait of Bloomberg News, because of Bloomberg's ownership of the News as well as his candidacy in the Democratic Party primaries, it would refrain from investigating Bloomberg's rival candidates throughout the primaries. If "credible journalistic institutions" published investigative reporting about any of the candidates, the News stated that it would "either publish those articles in full or summarize them", Micklethwait said. The Bloomberg Industry Group union, which does not represent News journalists, protested the ban. In response, the Trump administration decredentialed News reporters from attending further 2020 Trump campaign events.
Despite its promise not to investigate Bloomberg's presidential rivals, the news agency published a critical report on the Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren campaigns. Sanders campaign speechwriter David Sirota joined journalists in slamming the report. The article noted that Bloomberg had not yet released his first campaign spending report.
Bloomberg led the midnight vote in the tiny townships of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Although not on the ballot in the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary, Bloomberg received three write-in votes in Dixville Notch: two in the Democratic primary and one in the Republican primary.
Debates
Bloomberg declared his candidacy after most of the 2019 primary debates organized by the Democratic National Committee had already taken place. After declaring, he failed to meet the DNC's donor requirements to participate in the December 2019 and January 2020 debates, as he was not accepting contributions.On January 31, 2020, the DNC changed its eligibility rules, eliminating the individual-donor threshold. This change allowed Bloomberg to participate in future debates by merely meeting polling requirements.
February 19, 2020 debate
On February 18, 2020, Bloomberg qualified to participate in the February 19 debate in Nevada. Bloomberg's debut debate performance was poorly received, with some pundits saying that his performance was "among the worst in the history of presidential debates". He was widely criticized for his answers regarding stop-and-frisk, workplace harassment, and allegations of harassment by female employees, many of whom were bound by non-disclosure agreements. Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden challenged him to release the women from the non-disclosure agreements, and Bloomberg refused. It was reported that there were at least 64 women named in at least 40 lawsuits alleging sexual harassment or gender discrimination at Bloomberg LP.After the debate, at a rally in Salt Lake City, Utah, Bloomberg stated that "Trump was the real winner of Las Vegas debate", and claimed that, "If we choose a candidate who appeals to a small base like Senator Sanders, it will be a fatal error".
"Super Tuesday" results and suspension of campaign
In the March 3, 2020 "Super Tuesday" primaries, Bloomberg finished in third or fourth place in most of the 14 states involved, picking up a total of 61 delegates out of the more than 1,000 that were available. On March 4, 2020, Bloomberg suspended his campaign, stating, "I'm a believer in using data to inform decisions. After yesterday's results, the delegate math has become virtually impossible—and a viable path to the nomination no longer exists." Bloomberg then endorsed Joe Biden.Following the suspension of his campaign, Bloomberg donated money to nonprofits which register people of color to vote. This includes a $2 million donation to Collective Future, a group that registers black voters, and a $500,000 donation to Voto Latino, which registers young Latinos as voters.
Spending and advertising
Bloomberg decided on an unconventional primary strategy; he chose not to compete in the four states that had primaries or caucuses in February 2020, but to focus his efforts on the multi-state primary elections in March on what is known as Super Tuesday. Following the Iowa caucuses, after a delay in reporting the results produced a chaotic and uncertain outcome, he decided to double his television advertising in all the markets where he was already spending and to increase his campaign staff to 2,000 people.In the fourth quarter of 2019, Bloomberg spent $188 million on his presidential campaign. That amount included $132 million on television ads; $8.2 million on digital ads; $3.3 million on polling; $1.5 million on rent; and $757,000 on airfare, including $646,000 for a private jet. By the end of January 2020, Bloomberg had spent a total of $300 million on his campaign. By February 2020, his total spending had exceeded $500 million. Bloomberg's spending caused the total spending in the presidential primary on behalf of all candidates to exceed $1 billion by February, an unprecedented figure for such an early point in a U.S. presidential election.
Bloomberg spent a total of more than $1 billion on his campaign. As of April 2020, this amount exceeded the combined campaign spending of all the other Democratic candidates in the 2020 presidential election.
Television ads
The Bloomberg campaign launched campaign ads in markets in every state nationally on December 4, 2019. By December 31, 2019—five weeks after declaring his candidacy—Bloomberg had spent or committed $200 million on advertising, producing "an onslaught of campaign commercials with no precedent in Democratic politics".Bloomberg spent $10 million on a 60-second ad slot during Super Bowl LIV that aired on February 2, 2020.
Digital and social media campaigns
Bloomberg's digital campaign set aside $100 million for anti-Trump social media ads in swing states. By January 2020, Bloomberg had spent an estimated $15 million on pay-per-click Google ads promoting his campaign on search results for terms including "impeachment", "climate change", and "gun safety". In January 2020, Bloomberg spent $8.53 million in targeted Facebook ads.In addition to running digital ads, Bloomberg's campaign recruited social media influencers to advertise online. The campaign used Tribe, a content marketplace for brands to solicit content from social media personalities, to offer a $150 payment to influencers who posted videos or still images with overlay text in support of Bloomberg. Bloomberg's campaign worked with Meme 2020, a social media company led by Jerry Media CEO Mick Purzycki, to pay popular Instagram accounts to post "self-aware ironic" memes about Bloomberg. In February 2020, the campaign hired 500 "deputy digital organizers" who were paid $2,500 per month to promote Bloomberg on their personal social media accounts and in text messages to their contact lists.