Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to challenge US President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. The Democrat announced on Sunday to officially enter the presidential race of his party. For days, such a message of the heavy 77-year-old was expected. "I am applying as president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America," Bloomberg said. "We can not afford four more years of President Trump's reckless and unethical actions."
Bloomberg had already made preparations and filed in several states the necessary documents for possible participation in the primaries. Democrat Bloomberg, who once founded the finance and media company named after him, is considered one of the richest men in the world. He can thus bring significant funding in an election campaign against Trump (73), who wants to compete in the election for the Republicans again.
Trump had already reacted a few days ago with mockery at the reports of a possible presidential application Bloomberg. The "little Michael" Bloomberg lacked the necessary "magic" to win the elections in a year, said Trump. "He will not do well."
Overcrowded applicant field
Bloomberg joins - extremely late - in an overcrowded field of applicants in the Democrats. Although many party colleagues have quit, almost 20 Democrats are still bidding for their party's presidential nomination. Most of them have been campaigning for months. The primary elections, in which the Democrats finally determine their candidate for the presidential election in November 2020, will begin in early February in Iowa.
Prominent aspirants to the Democrats' candidacy had already positioned themselves against Bloomberg in recent days amid speculation about his candidacy. In particular, the left-wing senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who are in the polls so far at the top and repeatedly position against super-rich, aimed at Bloomberg's wealth. For example, Sanders said that they could not buy the election.
Bloomberg is regarded as a moderate Democrat, making it especially the former US Vice President Joe Biden competition, which is still in the front polls but recently increasingly weakened and almost overtaken by the internal competition and was partially overtaken in fundraising.
In March, Bloomberg had publicly stated that he did not want to become a presidential candidate. At the time he reportedly renounced a candidacy to avoid getting in the way of Biden.