The ex-New York City mayor vowed to work to defeat President Donald Trump in November. “I will not walk away from the most important political fight of my life,” he said.
Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire former New York City mayor who jumped into the 2020 presidential race late and spent over $500 million on an unorthodox campaign, has ended his bid for the Democratic nomination, but vowed to stay in the fight in an attempt to defeat President Donald Trump in November.
“After yesterday’s results, the delegate math has become virtually impossible — and a viable path to the nomination no longer exists,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “But I remain clear-eyed about my overriding objective: victory in November. Not for me, but for our country. And so while I will not be the nominee, I will not walk away from the most important political fight of my life.”
“I’ve known Joe for a very long time,” Biden said. “I know his decency, his honesty, and his commitment to the issues that are so important to our country — including gun safety, health care, climate change, and good jobs.
“I’ve had the chance to work with Joe on those issues over the years, and Joe has fought for working people his whole life,” he continued. “Today I am glad to endorse him — and I will work to make him the next president of the United States.”
Bloomberg, who sat out the first four nominating contests in the Democratic primary, had banked heavily on success on Super Tuesday and afterward, pouring almost half a billion dollars (as of late February) of his personal fortune into ad spending in the states voting on and after that day.
But Bloomberg, a former Republican and independent who pitched himself as a moderate Democrat who could beat Trump, was not able to earn those votes effectively following the resurgence of fellow moderate Biden.