--- title: Michael Bloomberg Mulling Presidential Run as Independent description: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is exploring an independent campaign for president. canonical: https://time.com/4191502/michael-bloomberg-presidential-run/ author: Michael Scherer article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-23T17:17:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:57.143Z article:section: Politics og:title: Michael Bloomberg Mulling Presidential Run as Independent og:description: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is exploring an independent campaign for president. og:url: https://time.com/4191502/michael-bloomberg-presidential-run/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte50d436459850911/69887a54524fc09a1ddf66a9/bloomberg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: 3rd Annual Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy Brooklyn Black Tie Ball og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michael Bloomberg Mulling Presidential Run as Independent twitter:description: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is exploring an independent campaign for president. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte50d436459850911/69887a54524fc09a1ddf66a9/bloomberg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michael Bloomberg Mulling Presidential Run as Independent > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3338286d-54c3-4b72-892a-308d71c82175&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: What Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Need to Win the Democratic Race [Watch (HLS stream): What Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Need to Win the Democratic Race](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/88kr3X41.m3u8) (4:50)  _Published 2016-01-16. In early voting states like New Hampshire, the hard work of winning elections is often decided by volunteers on the ground._ by [Michael Scherer](https://time.com/author/michael-scherer/) ## Michael Scherer Jan 23, 2016 5:17 PM UTC  Michael Bloomberg at Brooklyn Bridge Park on Oct. 8, 2015 in New York City. Michael Bloomberg at Brooklyn Bridge Park on Oct. 8, 2015 in New York City. Ilya S. Savenok—Getty Images by [Michael Scherer](https://time.com/author/michael-scherer/) ## Michael Scherer Jan 23, 2016 5:17 PM UTC Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is [exploring an independent campaign for president](http://time.com/4191470/michael-bloomberg-presidential-run-independent/?xid=homepage), TIME confirmed Saturday, a move that highlights the ongoing weakness of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton and threatens to deliver a major blow to Democratic hopes for maintaining the White House. The media mogul is most likely to pursue a campaign, which was first reported by the New York _Times_, if Clinton fails over the next month to demonstrate that she is on a clear path to secure the Democratic nomination. But a person with knowledge of Bloomberg’s plans told TIME Saturday that he still might run if Clinton appears likely to be the nominee, a prospect that could prove a major boost to Republican hopes of retaking the White House. The person familiar with the plans said a campaign was “significantly less likely,” against a Clinton nominee, but “not impossible.” Bloomberg is likely to make his decision before the end of March, so that he can qualify for ballots around the country. The current chief executive of his own media empire, Bloomberg, 73, was elected three times to lead New York City. He holds a number of political positions that are sure to turn off Republicans while enticing Democrats and socially-liberal independents in a general election. These include support for stricter gun control, greater government regulation to protect public health and strong support for the women’s health organization, Planned Parenthood. He has also worked to shutter coal power plants as a way to combat global warming, and spent his own money on an outside group supporting immigration reform, with a path to citizenship for those now in the country without documentation. “A lot of elected officials are afraid to back controversial things. I’m not afraid of that,” [he told TIME in 2013](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2154409,00.html?pcd=pw-edit), as he prepared to leave New York City Hall. “You’re not going to hurt my business, and if you are, I don’t care. I take great pride in being willing to stand up.” In the 2014 election cycle, Bloomberg gave nearly $29 million to groups involved in elections, including $4 million to Planned Parenthood Votes and millions more to a SuperPAC supporting Democratic House candidates. If he ran, he would self-finance his own presidential bid from his $37 billion fortune, which he built by creating a media company focused on providing information to the finance industry. Bloomberg has previously made several other attempts to explore a run for the presidency, only to conclude that the partisan primary and caucus system, which runs through rural states like Iowa and New Hampshire, would be unfavorable to a billionaire bachelor from New York City, with close ties to Wall Street. But the rise of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders has again sparked his interest in an independent run, which would bring echoes of H. Ross Perot’s 1992 campaign against Republican George H. W. Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton. There is little public polling on the impact of a Bloomberg presidency on the election, though Bloomberg has commissioned private polls as he explores a run. An [online poll](http://time.com/4191470/michael-bloomberg-presidential-run-independent/?xid=homepage) conducted this month by Morning Consult found that Bloomberg’s entrance could hurt Clinton more than Trump, in a hypothetical three-way race. Online polls are considered less accurate by many pollsters than telephone polls, and general election matchup polls this early in a campaign cycle are rarely predictive. If he did run, Bloomberg would likely campaign as he did in New York City, as an exceptional manager without the ideological biases of the current two party system. “My strengths are attracting good people and getting them to work together, getting the resources for them, adjudicating disputes, bringing them down to reality, evaluating them, promoting them, and protecting them,” Bloomberg previously told TIME. The very fact that Bloomberg is even exploring a run is bad news for Clinton, who has struggled to live up to her billing as the heir apparent to President Obama. She now trails self-described “democratic socialist” Sanders in New Hampshire and has watched her lead shrink in Iowa. Nonetheless, Clinton remains the favorite to win the nomination, given her support among unelected Democratic convention delegates and minority communities. ## Transcript [ BLANK_AUDIO ] 30 days to the primary, every second counts. We're hoping that this will prove our tenacity and we're willing to not only go out here and knock on doors, but knock on doors in awful weather because That's how strongly we feel about this campaign. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Three weeks to go now until the first votes are cast in the 2016 presidential race. But the bigger surprise right here, Sanders is closing in on Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders deadlocked. Sanders is out for And that has her campaign admitting they are nervous. [ APPLAUSE ] People hearing the message directly from the senator is wonderful, but we can't have a rally every day. The conversations that matter to me are the ones that are happening between individuals. Because at the end of the day, that's what wins an election. If they're home. [ SOUND ] I think the best I ever did was 61 houses. And I think I got 7 commit cards. Which was pretty good. We've had a big push in the past 60 days. My job is not to convince people to change their vote, I'm just there to give them information. Hi. Hi. Mr. Thorner? And also, it's to inform people what day the Primary is on. Should be, here. [ SOUND ] I remember, I think it was about six years ago now, there was one. Disheveled crazy looking guy on floor of the Senate who gave a 10 and a half hour filibuster about how stupid the Bush tax cuts were. And I remember seeing that, being like, this dude is the only dude in the Senate with guts and this is exactly what I believe in. And I started following a little bit more about who is he was and everything I heard him say, I agreed with and loved. Like everything. Well, we're just out here for Bernie, because we believe that he's one of the most different candidates. That can really revolutionize- This is the grind, yes, this is where it's won. Those are the most effective and persuasive ways of talking to voters. All right, whose next? Yesterday alone we knocked on 17, 000 doors. Watch the ice. One day, 17, 000 doors. We're from the Bernie Sanders campaign and we were just wondering if you were planning on voting in the primary on February 9th. [ INAUDIBLE ] Hilary in the primary. Definitely. Wonderful. Be voting for both of you. Great. Leaning strongly in her favor? I'm still not sure. I love Bernie Sanders. Most of us do Who are in this part of the country. But there's some drawbacks, too. I'm torn- She's a woman with very strong convictions just like Bernie- That I admire. And she's stuck to them, but now she's moderated them to say well, I can meet the Republicans halfway. And I don't know what will happen if Bernie can't meet them halfway. I'm not sure that he would Even have a chance of [ CROSSTALK ] Yes, yeah. That's what I'm really worried. The worries that people have about his electability should have really disappeared by now. All these people that no other candidate would get should come out and vote for them Bernie's got those people. And people that haven't voted in 20 years. And I've seen them in the office making calls. I've seen them stepping up and doing stuff. And I think Bernie talks the talk and walks the walk. One of the reasons that I'm really For Hilary is because of the Affordable Care Act and I think she will not only keep it, but improve on it. I've had breast cancer, my husband's had prostate cancer, my son has treatable epilepsy. She's just right on for people from birth to death. If we get that win by three points or five points or whatever, it's gonna be us on On the ground making that difference, creating that margin, and that's what it's about. Doing it three times this week, because we're getting close to the wire. I definitely will do it the remainder of the Saturdays and possibly some of the Sundays. Then I have said that I'll come in two nights a week to make calls Bye. [ LAUGH ] See if we could get the dogs to vote, we'd be doing really just right. 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