Scott Powers
Note: the venue for the event was changed to The Mezz after this report initially posted.
Democrat Mike Bloomberg is launching a “Women for Mike” coalition in Orlando Saturday, to be hosted by his Florida campaign co-chair Rep. Stephanie Murphy, Osceola County Commissioner Viviana Janer, and Team Bloomberg National Deputy Women’s Outreach Director Amanda Finney.
The 1:30 p.m. event Saturday, at The Mezz in downtown Orlando, will kick off a day that will continue in Bloomberg’s downtown Orlando field office with women phone banking to push Bloomberg’s “vision to ensure women can get ahead.” The campaign said it would be the first of many events throughout the state to push Bloomberg’s plans to empower women.
The event comes days after Bloomberg suffered a brutal verbal attack on stage by rival Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden, during Wednesday’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas, over reports that he had signed numerous non-disclosure agreements in settlements with former employees who alleged sexual harassment. Bloomberg responded by touting his record for gender equality and a no tolerance policy for sexual harassment in his businesses. But he had difficulty recovering after Warren, the Massachusetts Senator, called him, “a billionaire who calls people fat broads and horse-faced lesbians,” one of the signature moments of the debate.
In defending the non-disclosure agreements, Warren quipped that Bloomberg was “nice to some women.”
In the announcement for Saturday’s “Women for Mike” event in Orlando, Murphy came to his defense.
“From good paying jobs to protecting reproductive rights, Mike has ambitious plans to ensure women and girls in this country have opportunities to succeed. Women for Mike is about coming together to support Mike and join together in the effort to take back the White House,” the Winter Park Congresswoman wrote in a news release issued by Bloomberg’s campaign. “I have a record of standing for equality and inclusion, and I firmly believe Mike has and will continue to foster an environment where women are on equal footing and can succeed professionally and personally.”
Florida’s presidential primary is March 17.
The campaign pledged that Bloomberg will fix health care for the more than 10 million women and 4 million children who don’t have access to health insurance in America by building on the Affordable Care Act and creating a viable public option; improve maternal health and protect reproductive rights by codifying Roe v. Wade; and work to ensure paid family leave and affordable child care are available to all.”
