New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg approaches the microphones to speak to reporters after his meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington February 27, 2013
Bloomberg would clearly count on leveraging his fortune -- Forbes ranks him as the ninth richest person in the world -- to make up ground on the favorites, including fierce Wall Street critics Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both of whom he sees as "extremists." As a successful businessman who shuns political labels -- economically conservative but liberal on gay rights and abortion -- he has grown increasingly worried by Warren and Sanders passing centrist Joe Biden in some polls, a close advisor said.He points to his successes as an executive who helped revitalise post-9/11 New York, his advocacy and financial support for gun control and his work on climate change.
In 2018, he spent $100 million to help Democratic candidates regain control of the US House of Representatives.Still, Bloomberg will have to contend with his image as an elitist swimming against a Democratic orthodoxy that has moved left on taxation and immigration.