Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that an independent candidacy would likely “end up re-electing the President.”
The statement was seemingly a not-so-veiled reference to former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who has said on Twitter and in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday that he’s considering an independent bid for the presidency.
I love our country, and I am seriously considering running for president as a centrist independent.
— Howard Schultz (@HowardSchultz) January 28, 2019
Schultz told “60 Minutes”: “I will run as a centrist independent, outside of the two-party system.”
Bloomberg seemed to respond to the interview in his statement Monday.
“In 2020, the great likelihood is that an independent would just split the anti-Trump vote and end up re-electing the President,” Bloomberg wrote. “That’s a risk I refused to run in 2016 and we can’t afford to run it now.”
He added: “We must remain united, and we must not allow any candidate to divide or fracture us. The stakes couldn’t be higher.”
Read Bloomberg’s full “Statement on Independent Run” here, or below:
Last fall I spent over $100 million of my own money to elect Democrats to the House because I believed it was absolutely imperative to ensure a congressional counterweight to President Trump.
Thankfully, we were successful. But that was just the first step — the next and most important step is to defeat Donald Trump in 2020.
Now I have never been a partisan guy — and it’s no secret that I looked at an independent bid in the past. In fact I faced exactly the same decision now facing others who are considering it.
The data was very clear and very consistent. Given the strong pull of partisanship and the realities of the electoral college system, there is no way an independent can win. That is truer today than ever before.
In 2020, the great likelihood is that an independent would just split the anti-Trump vote and end up re-electing the President. That’s a risk I refused to run in 2016 and we can’t afford to run it now.
We must remain united, and we must not allow any candidate to divide or fracture us. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
