Politico | Centrist Democrats eye Michael Bloomberg as Joe Biden crumbles
- Some moderate and black Democratic lawmakers, fearful of Bernie Sanders winning the nomination, are turning to Michael Bloomberg.
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Sarah Ferris, Heather Caygle and Marianne Levine on politico.com on February 12, 2020.
Moderate Democrats on Capitol Hill have begun to confront a future without Joe Biden - and are scrambling to find a centrist alternative who can topple both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.
And a growing number of Democrats say they’re turning to billionaire Michael Bloomberg, a former New York mayor who became a trusted ally after his personal fortune helped Democrats recapture the House in 2018.
Publicly, moderate Democrats insist there’s plenty of time until Super Tuesday, when Biden or Bloomberg could emerge as the front-runner. But anxiety is rising on both sides of the Capitol that a Sanders ticket could cost the party not just the race for the White House but also of control of Congress - while exposing raw ideological tensions within the party ahead of November.
“If Bernie ends up being one of these front-runners, he’ll have to moderate. I’m not going socialist. Never been a socialist,” Democrat Senator Joe Manchin said. “If he doesn’t change, I’ve got a dilemma there. We’ll see. But we’re talking about hypotheticals. I think there’s going to be a lot happening between now and then.”
The soul-searching within the establishment wing of the Democratic Party comes after Sanders solidified his front-runner status in Iowa and New Hampshire, which produced a pair of cringeworthy finishes for Biden. The former vice-president did so poorly in New Hampshire that he ditched his own election night watch party to head to South Carolina, possibly giving an opening to Bloomberg, who skipped the first four contests.
