Capitol Alert
Bloomberg’s new California director is working to build biggest state operation ‘in history’
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is going all in on California in a late effort to create a pathway to the Democratic presidential nomination.
Leading his California operation will be Chris Myers, executive director of the state’s Democratic Party.
“He’s not only talked about bringing people together. He’s actually done it, and I think that’s what people want to see,” Myers said. “We’re going to be bringing the largest statewide operation in history to California.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders presently has the biggest ground game in the state, with more than 80 California workers on the campaign’s payroll.
In less than a month, Bloomberg’s campaign has hired more than two dozen staff members across the Golden State. Myers said Bloomberg’s paid California team will soon be larger than that of Sanders.
California will be particularly important for Bloomberg, given his decision to enter the race in late-November and skip the four states with the earliest Democratic primary elections. California offers candidates about a tenth of the nation’s pledged delegates and holds its primary on March 3, 2020.
Myers is based in Sacramento and will leave his post as executive director at the end of the year to join Bloomberg’s team at the start of 2020. He’ll come to the Bloomberg campaign with 20 years of experience at the state party level. He insists he has a good idea what California Democrats want in their next nominee.
“This is a chance to work for someone I believe in and someone who has the best chance of beating Donald Trump,” Myers said. “First and foremost, this is the biggest election in my lifetime for president. Most Democrats don’t want Trump in office, so it’s obviously about defeating Trump.”
As Bloomberg fleshes out his campaign in California, Myers’ chief aim will be to introduce Bloomberg to voters and highlight the former mayor’s policy solutions to tackle global warming, gun violence and rising housing costs.
A UC Berkeley poll conducted in the days before and after Bloomberg’s presidential announcement found that only 8 percent of likely Democratic primary voters were thinking of backing him, which is far less than the possible 58 percent support for Sen. Elizabeth Warren and 50 percent support for Sanders.
Candidates need at least 15 percent in a given congressional district to have a chance of picking up a pledged delegate from that area.
Bloomberg has spent millions of dollars courting voters to boost his name recognition and tout his ideas.
Data from Bully Pulpit Interactive, a D.C.-based communications agency tracking candidates’ online spending, shows Bloomberg spent $589,000 on targeted Facebook ads in the state between Nov. 23 and Dec. 14 — the most of any 2020 candidate. He has also spent $12 million on television ads in California, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Sanders leads the 2020 field with $74.5 million raised through the end of September. Bloomberg has vowed to fund his campaign with his own money in lieu of outside donations. He’s already spent $80 million exclusively on television ads, and he’s staffed up 21 states with more than 200 workers.
“He’s doing exactly what the other campaigns are, except he’s using his own money,” Myers said of the former mayor worth an estimated $56 billion. “Other candidates are raising money from other people.”
Earlier this month, Bloomberg made his first trip to the state, where he secured an endorsement from Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs before traveling to San Francisco for a climate change discussion with former Gov. Jerry Brown. Asked how he could appeal to Californians, Bloomberg called for “evolutionary, rather than revolutionary change.”
“This is a great state. It’s got a great economy,” he added. “It doesn’t want to throw away what it has. It just wants to make it more available to more people. … There’s no reason why I can’t explain to people what I want to do.”
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