Michael Bloomberg still making a lot of noise in the last days of the elections.
One of the Democrats’ largest megadonors, the former New York mayor and presidential candidate this week poured nearly $36 million more into a slew of House, Senate and gubernatorial campaigns. It’s above the last minute 80 million dollars he already announced it last week.
The money is split into several tranches: Bloomberg gave $16 million to the House Majority PAC, the super PAC aligned with Democratic leadership, and $12 million (also for House races) to Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun reform nonprofit Bloomberg co-founded.
He also donated to a handful of prominent statewide candidates: $2.5 million for Stockings Keisha Lance Georgia gubernatorial campaign, $2.5 million for James Talarico Texas Senate race, $2 million for That of Adam Hamilton Kansas Senate Campaign and $750,000 to Gina Hinojosa Running for governor of Texas.
The eleventh hour burst came as Bloomberg The political team saw a dual chance to make an impact: backing long-running races where they wanted to erase Republicans’ money advantage on television and expanding their reach to reach seats where elections are close but little outside money has come in.
“When the wind is at your back, you want to put more boats in the water” Howard Wolfsonsenior advisor to Bloomberg, told Playbook. “And it seemed like the wind was blowing even harder this week.”
Money from the House majority PAC went to investments in 10 districts representing this mix of defensive plus-ups and offensive expansions: Colorado’s 3rd and 5th districts; Florida’s 7th, 9th, 13th and 27th; 1st from Nebraska; on the 21st in New York; the 3rd from Washington; and the 3rd from Wisconsin. This mainly involves funding TV and streaming ads in the home stretch. Some HMP spending was announced this week, but Bloomberg the support was not previously known.
And Everytown’s donations bolster its eight target races where the group supports former Moms Demand Action volunteers, said Stacey Radnor, executive vice president of Everytown: Arizona’s 6th District; Florida 22; Iowa is 1st, 2nd and 3rd; Michigan is 8th and 10th; and the 8th Pennsylvania. Most will go to television.
In a cycle where deep-pocketed Republican megadonors have outpaced Democrats in the super PAC spending game, President that of Donald Trump MAGA Inc. to Elon Musk, Democrats are hoping Bloomberg — who often spends big money in the final months of an election — can help them achieve parity in a number of critical House races.
Embarking on additional or new ad spending late in the cycle “makes it more difficult for the other side to respond effectively,” HMP President Mike Smith told Playbook. “There’s a strategy behind trying to make some of these late plays to put the Republicans on their heels, and then also be the only game in town” in more under-the-radar districts.
As the entire political battlefield became clearer in recent weeks, Bloomberg’s team wanted to step in to support the tightest races where Democrats needed a boost, Wolfson said: Even if they were looking for new opportunities, “you can’t sacrifice the primary races for the opportunity to expand the map.”
Correction: Due to incorrect information provided by the source, an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the nature of Everytown for Gun Safety’s advertising expenditures. Most purchases will be for television.
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