News and Commentary

Bloomberg’s Own Campaign Manager Suggested He Drop Out, Report Says

   DailyWire.com
THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON -- Episode 1197 -- Pictured: Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg during an interview on January 28, 2020 --
(Photo by: Andrew Lipovsky/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

After Joe Biden’s comeback in the South Carolina Democratic primary, campaign advisors to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg were pressuring the candidate to consider dropping out of the race and endorse the former vice president ahead of Super Tuesday. 

According to Vanity Fair, Bloomberg’s campaign manager Kevin Sheeky and other top campaign officials told the billionaire that dropping out of the race would put Democrats on the best path toward beating President Trump in the upcoming general election. 

The magazine, which interviewed four sources “briefed on the internal conversations,” reports that campaign officials and advisers to Bloomberg were frustrated with the candidate’s response. 

“Mike is a data guy, and he’s looking at the numbers thinking, I’ll be damned if I walk away before a single vote is cast for me,” a source told the magazine. 

A person close to the campaign told the magazine that Bloomberg’s candidacy has the potential to ruin the race for Democrats at a level on par with 1992 Independent presidential candidate Ross Perot, who some believe prevented President George H. W. Bush’s of being re-elected. 

“It’s clearer than ever after the weekend that it’s over and thus he will risk making Ross Perot and Ralph Nader look good if he stays in this,” the person told the magazine. 

Before elections resulted began to trickle in Tuesday evening, Sheeky told reporters that the campaign will be making an assessment after Super Tuesday: “I think you make an assessment in any campaign like this after every times that there is a vote. We have not had a vote so we have not had to assess but you would assess after tonight,” reports CNN.

Bloomberg, who has reportedly spent over $400 million of his own $52 billion fortune on TV ads alone since November, has relied on the unorthodox strategy of skipping the first four nominating contests in favor of competing for the first time on March 3, Super Tuesday, when 15 states and territories vote all at once. 

But after the South Carolina primary last weekend, establishment Democrats began to rally behind Biden in droves, including former senators, governors, and presidential candidates. 

The endorsement wave has left uncertainty among the Bloomberg campaign about whether the the former mayor will remain competitive, and a source close to the campaign told Vanity Fair the former mayor may consider dropping out after Super Tuesday if he cannot see a path to the nomination: “He’s not going to stay in and say, ‘Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead,’” the source told the magazine. 

According to the New York Post, Bloomberg maintained during a Fox News town hall that establishment Democrats rallying behind Biden has not fazed him. The former mayor also predicted that the Democratic primary would be headed toward a contested convention, during which no single candidate receives the majority of delegates necessary to swiftly secure the nomination. 

“The most likely scenario for the Democratic Party is that nobody has a majority and then it goes to a convention where there’s horse-trading and everybody decides to compromise on — it doesn’t even have to be one of the two leading candidates. It could be somebody that had only a small number of delegates,” Bloomberg told the news agency. 

However, Bloomberg’s campaign manager has since told reporters that he doesn’t expect a contested convention.

Aside from Bloomberg, Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), there are still two other candidates competing in the Democratic primary: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI).

Got a tip worth investigating?

Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference.

Submit Tip
The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  Bloomberg’s Own Campaign Manager Suggested He Drop Out, Report Says