Democratic megadonor and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced an $80 million funding influx to help his party chip away at a Republican financial advantage in the run up to the midterms.
Bloomberg’s team announced the hefty donation drop, which began September, in an interview published Tuesday in The New York Times. The last-minute cash flow isn’t anything new for the political benefactor who often significantly boosts his spending for Democrats in the last stretch of an election cycle.
“He believes in participation in our democracy,” Howard Wolfson, Bloomberg’s political adviser, told the Times.
Up to $50 million, which is more than half of Bloomberg’s reported spend, is heading to House races. With election forecasters predicting Democrats are on target to win back control of the House, some donors have refocused their attention on competitive Senate races across the country — but Bloomberg wants Democrats to have a comfortable majority in the lower chamber.
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“The difference between 221 and 230, in terms of the House majority, really matters,” Wolfson said in the interview.
Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization Bloomberg co-founded, is set to receive $24 million; around $16 million is headed for the House Majority PAC, which is the super PAC tied to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Everytown for Gun Safety helped launch a $10 million ad campaign promoting former gun safety advocates now running for the House, Axios reported earlier this month.
But high-dollar spends do not always translate to success. Bloomberg failed to earn the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 despite spending more than $1 billion ahead of the primaries, significantly more than many of his Democratic opponents.
Undeterred, Bloomberg “is of the view that resources matter in campaigns,” Wolfson told the Times.
Republican Party committees had more than a $100 million cash on hand advantage over their Democratic counterparts, according to Federal Election Commission data through Aug. 31, though new monthly reports due Tuesday will account for September’s totals.
Wolfson told the Times that Bloomberg is not “directing” the funding push toward any recipients who represent the party’s left flank and support the Democratic Socialists of America — a group that has backed more progressive candidates this primary cycle and who have been responsible for major upsets to the Democratic establishment. Bloomberg, Wolfson said, is concerned about the Democratic Party’s position on Israel, and DSA and its candidates often advocate for Palestinian rights in the region and are strongly against increasing U.S. military aid to Israel.
Bloomberg has not made a decision on whom to support for the Democrats’ 2028 presidential primary, a race he is likely to shape with the help of his megadonor status.
“He is a pragmatist. He is a centrist,” Wolfson told the Times. “I would be surprised if in the end he didn’t support someone who shared that orientation and was from that wing of the party.”
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