WASHINGTON - Michael Bloomberg, the
billionaire media mogul who continues to weigh a run for the
Democratic nomination for president, will launch a R1 470 735 000 ($100 million) online ad campaign targeting Republican President Donald Trump,
an advisor confirmed.
Bloomberg has not said whether he will run for president,
but has qualified as a candidate to appear on the primary
ballots of two states. The moderate former mayor of New York
City would have a tough fight to win the primary that began in
earnest in the spring and has allowed possible rivals to
campaign for months already.
The online advertisements Bloomberg is funding, which have
not yet run but are slated to begin Friday, will target four
states: Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The
advertisements are slated to run through the primary season,
regardless of whether Bloomberg decides to run for president,
the aide confirmed. The details were first reported by The New
York Times.
Those four states are considered some of the closest and
most hotly contested in the primary contest. Trump won all four
in 2016, but public opinion polls have shown that he is
vulnerable there in the 2020 election when he will stand for
reelection.
Bloomberg pumped millions of his own dollars in the 2018
midterm elections to help Democrats across the country.
The crowded field of Democrats vying for president has
largely been focused on the primary contest. Should Bloomberg
run, he would join the crowded field, entering tied for fifth
place.
Bloomberg's public flirtation with a run, after saying in
March that he would not seek the nomination, came days before
former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced his late
entry into the Democratic field.
Democrats have grown increasingly concerned that while their
party try to sort out their primary and pick a nominee, Trump
will be able to gain ground in contested general election
states. The president's reelection campaign has started spending
heavily in online advertising, using the war chest he has
already begun to amass to target general election voters.
Bloomberg's ad buy could serve as a buffer, an effort to
offset Trump's advantage.