Bloomberg, ex-GOP mayor of NYC, pledges $80M to help Dems take House in 2018

By Daniel Terdiman

June 20, 2018

Michael Bloomberg, the media and financial titan and former Republican mayor of New York City (who became an Independent during his third-term campaign), has seen enough. Today, making clear his distaste for the politics and policies of the current “absolutely feckless” GOP Congress and president, Bloomberg said he’s throwing $80 million into the pot to help aid Democrats in taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives in this November’s midterms.

According to The New York Times, Bloomberg, who often backs center-left policies like gun control, the environment, and immigration reform, is looking to out-bankroll conservative mega-donors like casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who has pledged $30 million to Republican causes.

Democrats need to flip 23 Congressional seats if they want control of the House. Bloomberg’s millions will likely help with those efforts, especially in suburban districts where advertising is expensive. The Times says Bloomberg hasn’t yet decided precisely which districts to target, but will likely focus on at least a dozen, “chiefly in moderate suburban areas where Trump is unpopular,” and he’ll surely stay away from deep-red rural areas where his policies are at odds with people who support gun rights and other conservative issues.

Bloomberg has previously backed initiatives like Everytown for Gun Safety, which aims to end gun violence in America. That organization’s efforts have yet to achieve any significant national milestones, though there have been some gains at the state level.

Even as he’s contributed to candidates from both parties over the years, Bloomberg is clear that he thinks one-party control of Washington is ineffective and dangerous.

“I’ve never thought that the public is well-served when one party is entirely out of power, and I think the past year and a half has been evidence of that,” The Times quoted Bloomberg as saying. He added that the GOP has “done little to reach across the aisle to craft bipartisan solutions—not only on guns and climate change, but also on jobs, immigration, health care, and infrastructure . . . Republicans in Congress have had almost two years to prove they could govern responsibly. They failed.”

 

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