Billionaire Michael Bloomberg to spend $100 million to help Joe Biden, report says

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg plans to infuse at least $100 million in Florida to help Democrat Joe Biden's effort against Republican President Donald Trump in an important swing state.

According to The Washington Post, Bloomberg advisors said the former New York City mayor made his decision last week after news reports that Trump was considering spending up to $100 million of his own cash in his adopted state. Bloomberg had spent hundreds of millions on his 2020 Democratic presidential bid before dropping out.

The Republican president, who trails Biden in national opinion polls before the November 3 election, told reporters last week that he would spend his own money if needed.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The billionaire's decision comes at a critical moment in the final 51 days of the race, with polls showing a close race in the battleground state and no financial advantage for the sitting president.

Trump’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee on Wednesday said they raised a combined $210 million in August, falling far short of matching Biden’s record-breaking haul of $364.5 million for the month.

Polls in Florida have tightened in recent weeks and Bloomberg thought that was a good place to focus on, his advisers told the Post.

"Mike Bloomberg is committed to helping defeat Trump, and that is going to happen in the battleground states," said Bloomberg advisor Kevin Sheekey, who added that the spending "will mean Democrats and the Biden campaign can invest even more heavily in other key states like Pennsylvania, which will be critical to a Biden victory."

"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 Post quoted Kevin Sheekey as saying, on Sunday.

The New York Times last week reported that Trump’s initial financial supremacy over former Vice President Biden earlier this year had evaporated, and that of the $1.1 billion his campaign and the party raised from the beginning of 2019 through July, more than $800 million already had been spent.

Even before Bloomberg's spending, both campaigns were expecting Florida to be the most expensive state in which to campaign. It will be the biggest prize among competitive states on Election Day, offering 29 of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win.

Voting by mail in the state starts on September 24, and Biden is planning his first in-person visit to Florida of the general election season on Tuesday.

Trump won the state by 113,000 votes in his victorious 2016 election, or 1.2 percentage points. He has since adopted the state as his residence and visits regularly.

Recent polls have shown Biden with a very slim margin there, gaining ground with older voters but trailing previous Democrats' performance with Latinos. People over 65 years old make up one in five of the state's voters and Latinos make up one in four.

Democrats had worried that Bloomberg's promised help for the party might not come through after he abandoned his own presidential primary campaign. Some were angered by Bloomberg's getting a prime-time speaking slot at the Democratic convention in August.

A Bloomberg aide said the money would be used to help bring people to the polls who support Biden and communicating with Latino voters, in particular.

(with inputs from agencies)