New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering running to the Democratic Party primaries for the presidential elections and is expected to present the documents to be a candidate this week, as reported by the newspaper The New York Times on Thursday.
The billionaire businessman, 77, has been privately weighing an offer by the White House for weeks and has not yet made a final decision, according to the newspaper, citing one of his advisors.
Bloomberg has already sent some employees to Alabama to get signatures to qualify the primaries in that state, where candidates have a deadline to apply until Friday.
The ex-mayor of New York and his advisors have called several prominent Democrats on Thursday to inform them that he is seriously considering his candidacy. Among others he called former Nevada senator Harry Reid.
In a brief interview, Reid said that Bloomberg has not explicitly told him that he was running as a candidate for the Presidency, but stressed that the intention of the call had been clear. “It wasn’t just to wish me a good weekend,” Reid stressed.
The Democratic Party, which now has 17 candidates, has four main contenders according to them: US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who represent the progressive wing of the party, and former Vice President Joe Biden and Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who represent the more moderate wing.
Bloomberg was mayor of New York between 2002 and 2013 and has been a leading advocate on the problems of climate change and weapons.
