NEW YORK — Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is gearing up for a run against President Donald Trump, a new report says. The multibillionaire financial services magnate plans to run for the White House as a Democrat in 2020, The Times of London reported Thursday.
Bloomberg, the CEO of his eponymous global company, could use his personal fortune to support his presidential campaign, a source indicated to the Times. He’s worth $52.6 billion, according to Forbes.
“He has the money to see it through while other candidates knock themselves out,” the source told the British newspaper.
Bloomberg, 76, was elected mayor twice as a Republican before leaving the party in 2007 and winning a third term in 2009.
He reportedly mulled presidential bids in 2008, 2012 and 2016 but decided against joining those races. He planned to spend at least $80 million on this year’s midterm elections in an effort to help Democrats take over the House of Representatives, The New York Times reported in June.
If he were to beat Trump, Bloomberg would be the first New York City mayor to win a higher office in more than a century. The last occupant of City Hall to move up the political ladder was John T. Hoffman, who was elected governor in 1868. Ardolph L. Kline served as a congressman after a brief stint as acting mayor in 1913.
Read the full Times of London story here.
(Lead image: Michael Bloomberg is pictured in 2017. Photo by Lukas Schulze/Getty Images)