Scott Powers
Former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg announced Friday he is transferring $18 million of his campaign to the Democrats and is making his staff and many of his field offices available to the national and state parties but is otherwise ending his vow to keep many on through the November election.
His moves should pump up the Democratic National Committee and potentially state parties like the Florida Democratic Party with new resources.
But sources indicated Friday that Bloomberg campaign staff who had been assured employment through the November election whether or not he was the party’s nominee now are stunned that they now are being told they are being laid off.
Bloomberg’s announcement said those staff in six battleground states will be employed and paid through the first week in April and have full benefits through the end of April.
After that, they are being referred to the DNC and the Florida Democratic Party to seek employment.
The campaign announced a transfer of $18 million to the DNC’s Coordinated Campaign, “to help Democrats win up and down the ballot in November. This is the largest transfer from a presidential campaign in recent history.”
Mike Bloomberg 2020 also announced it would “transfer several of its former field offices to state parties and help accelerate the hiring pace for important positions in organizing, data, and operations across key battleground states. The campaign believes this investment will dramatically expand the DNC’s Battleground Build-Up 2020 efforts across battleground states, drawing in part from our own incredibly experienced and talented organizing staff.”
Bloomberg, a billionaire business media tycoon and former New York City Mayor, ran an unprecedented presidential campaign before he dropped out March 4, following across-the-board disappointing performances in the “Super Tuesday” primaries. He spent $275 million on media advertising, opened numerous offices, and hired hundreds of staff members. In Florida the campaign had more than 20 offices and more than 125 paid staff members.
The campaign laid out its intentions in a memo Friday to DNC Chair Tom Perez.
“As Mike said throughout the campaign, he would support whomever the eventual Democratic nominee is, as well as Democrats in key races that we must elect to help undo the damage President [Donald] Trump has done in office,” the memo stated. “While our campaign has ended, Mike’s number one objective this year remains defeating Trump and helping Democrats win in November.”
