UPDATE: Mike Bloomberg ends White House bid | Warren reassessing campaign
Mike Bloomberg, who poured hundreds of millions of his own personal fortune into his presidential campaign, is ending that bid after two embarrassing Democratic debate performances and a pitiful Super Tuesday.
After a $500-million effort that saw him only win America Samoa’s five delegates on Super Tuesday, Bloomberg ended his campaign Wednesday morning.
My full statement: https://t.co/riS124AcmH
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) March 4, 2020
I'm immensely proud of the campaign we ran. I'm deeply grateful to all the Americans who voted for me, and to our dedicated staff and volunteers. I want you to stay engaged, active, and committed to our issues. I will be right there with you. And together, we will get it done.
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) March 4, 2020
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is also reportedly meeting with her staff to reassess her campaign. On Wednesday night, the Washington Post reported representatives from both the Warren and Bernie Sanders campaign were meeting to discuss ways of uniting their progressive campaigns, with the expectation Warren would soon leave the race.
NEW: Top surrogates and allies of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are discussing ways for their two camps to unite and push a common liberal agenda, with the expectation Warren is likely to leave the presidential race soon. From @AnnieLinskey @WaPoSean https://t.co/9K11rsrA7r
— (@mviser)Mar 04 2020
New: Elizabeth Warren's campaign manager Roger Lau has just sent an email to all staff, first thanking them, and also sharing this blunt assessment about last night:
— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) March 4, 2020
“We fell well short of viability goals and projections, and we are disappointed in the results.”
President Donald Trump, who has famously ridiculed Bloomberg on Twitter, took another shot at the former New York City mayor.
Mini Mike, “Three months ago I entered the race for President to defeat Donald Trump, (and I failed miserably!).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
Mini Mike Bloomberg will now FIRE Tim O’Brien, and all of the fools and truly dumb people who got him into this MESS. This has been the worst, and most embarrassing, experience of his life...and now on to Sleepy Joe!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
Mini Mike Bloomberg just “quit” the race for President. I could have told him long ago that he didn’t have what it takes, and he would have saved himself a billion dollars, the real cost. Now he will pour money into Sleepy Joe’s campaign, hoping to save face. It won’t work!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
Trump also criticized the winless Warren for remaining in the race.
So selfish for Elizabeth Warren to stay in the race. She has Zero chance of even coming close to winning, but hurts Bernie badly. So much for their wonderful liberal friendship. Will he ever speak to her again? She cost him Massachusetts (and came in third), he shouldn’t!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
Bloomberg becomes the latest in a series of unsuccessful Democratic White House hopefuls to throw their support behind former Vice President Joe Biden, who won nine of 14 states on Super Tuesday.
Biden is a battle with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders to win the party’s presidential nomination. Former Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and billionaire Tom Steyer all have ended their presidential bids within the last week and endorsed Biden.
Bloomberg poured hundreds of millions of dollars of his own fortune into his White House bid with virtually nothing to show for his investment.
"In just three months, we've gone from being at 1 percent in the polls to being a contender for the Democratic nomination for President," Bloomberg told a crowd of supporters in Florida on Tuesday evening.
But later, news organizations began reporting that Bloomberg would “reassess” his campaign on Wednesday.
BLOOMBERG REASSESSING? NEW - Read and RT this.
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) March 4, 2020
From a source familiar:
- Bloomberg, team will reassess the delegate math based on what happens tonight (+ it's young).
- THIS. If it's clear Biden has a path to majority of delegates, Bloomberg will consider supporting.
And...
On Super Tuesday, Bloomberg did win delegates in Utah, Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Colorado, and Arkansas, but there were no victories except American Samoa.
Bloomberg's campaign - fueled by millions in pervasive television advertisements - pushed him into the top tier of Democratic candidates by mid February. But Bloomberg's weak performance at a pair of Democratic debates — in which he was attacked repeatedly by Warren — caused his poll numbers to wane, as Biden suddenly grabbed on to major momentum in the Democratic race.
In Georgia, Bloomberg did secure the support of DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond and U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-6).
Biden and Sanders, lifelong politicians with starkly different visions for America’s future, were locked in a delegate fight a day after 14 states and one U.S. territory held a series of high-stakes elections that marked the most significant day of voting in the party’s presidential primary.
It could take weeks — or months — for Democrats to pick one of them to take on President Donald Trump in the November general election. But the new contours of the fight between Biden and Sanders crystallized as the former vice president and the three-term Vermont senator spoke to each other from dueling victory speeches delivered from opposite ends of the country Tuesday night.
The Sanders campaign announced Wednesday it would begin airing three new campaign ads in Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Washington, states that hold primaries March 10 and March 17.
One of the new ads features archived footage of former President Barack Obama praising Sanders. It's a not-so-subtle attempt by the Vermont senator to undercut Biden's frequently spotlighting his closeness to Obama.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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