Visits: 7
Former New York Mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg speaks about his plan for clean energy during a campaign event at the Blackwall Hitch restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia on December 13, 2019.
Olivier Douliery | AFP | Getty Images
Billionaire presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is slated to meet with influential business executives on Thursday as he looks to encourage them to back the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties in the 2020 campaign.
The meeting is set to take place in New York and will include veteran Wall Street leaders who run hedge funds and private equity firms, according to people familiar with the matter. These people declined to be named since the planned gathering has been deemed private.
The invitation to the meeting did not say what it would be about, according to people familiar with the outreach. Separately, an aide to Bloomberg said he is planning to call on donors to give directly to the DNC and a variety of state parties.
Bloomberg, who served three terms as mayor of New York, has already committed to funding his own campaign for president. He has an estimated net worth of $54 billion. Some of his rivals, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have accused him of trying to buy the Democratic nomination.
Invitees to the meeting have also been key fundraisers, also known as bundlers, for rival Democrats, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, who recently dropped out of the presidential race.
It is Bloomberg’s latest power play to become a leader within the Democratic Party.
“He’ll encourage giving to state parties and the DNC to support efforts across the country to make sure Donald Trump does not get a second term,” Bloomberg spokesman Marc LaVorgna told CNBC in a statement. “Many donors have been sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the primary to play out, and Mike is making it clear we simply cannot wait.”
The DNC in particular is in dire straits and needs help in the fundraising game. The organization’s latest monthly finance report shows that it raised just over $9 million during October and is $7 million in debt.
Bloomberg has already committed over $100 million to his own campaign and, separately, to House Democrats running for reelection. He spent over $110 million backing Democrats as they took over the majority in the House during the 2018 midterm elections.
He spent just over $117 million on TV ads since he entered the race just before Thanksgiving. Bloomberg has also committed to giving more than $10 million supporting House Democrats who are under siege by allies of Trump as some prepare to vote for impeaching the commander in chief.