--- title: Michael Bloomberg Will Not Run for President description: "It’s clear to me that if I entered the race, I could not win" canonical: https://time.com/4250295/michael-bloomberg-president-trump-cruz/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-07T22:13:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T16:47:33.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Michael Bloomberg Will Not Run for President og:description: "It’s clear to me that if I entered the race, I could not win." og:url: https://time.com/4250295/michael-bloomberg-president-trump-cruz/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9920edd2970edc6/69888a0b0a4a22e1259c8b7a/bloomberg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4200 og:image:height: 2363 og:image:alt: Campaign 2016 Bloomberg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michael Bloomberg Will Not Run for President twitter:description: "It’s clear to me that if I entered the race, I could not win." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9920edd2970edc6/69888a0b0a4a22e1259c8b7a/bloomberg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Will Not Run for President > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:47 PM UTCPublished: Mar 7, 2016 10:13 PM UTC  Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in Paris, Dec. 3, 2015. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in Paris, Dec. 3, 2015.Thibault Camus—AP by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:47 PM UTCPublished: Mar 7, 2016 10:13 PM UTC Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Monday that he [will not run for President](http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-03-07/the-2016-election-risk-that-michael-bloomberg-won-t-take) because his independent campaign could lead to Donald Trump or Ted Cruz winning the White House. The business mogul wrote in an article for Bloomberg View that he is concerned his theoretical third-party run could have split votes and led to what he sees as an unfortunate outcome, pointing out that after looking at the data, “it’s clear to me that if I entered the race, I could not win.” After speculation that he might enter the race, Bloomberg [confirmed](http://time.com/4212847/bloomberg-white-house-presidential-election/) in February that he was indeed exploring the possibility. But he said it was now time to end that exploration, “because of ballot access requirements.” In the piece, titled “The Risk I Will Not Take,” he wrote that a three-way race likely would not result in one candidate winning a majority in the electoral college, which would send the decision to Congress. “As the race stands now, with Republicans in charge of both Houses, there is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz,” he wrote. “That is not a risk I can take in good conscience.” Acknowledging that he has long known Trump “on friendly terms,” he said the Republican front-runner “has run the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on people’s prejudices and fears.” He said Cruz’s position on immigration “may lack Trump’s rhetorical excess, but it is no less extreme.” Bloomberg wrote that he was not yet ready to endorse a candidate, but invoked Abraham Lincoln in urging voters to stand up for “the last best hope of Earth.” Hillary Clinton said during a Fox News town hall that she had the “greatest respect” for Bloomberg and hopes to work with him in the future. Her Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, said at the same event that he was concerned that Bloomberg is a billionaire and that the idea that only the rich could run for President is dangerous. \[[_Bloomberg View_](http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-03-07/the-2016-election-risk-that-michael-bloomberg-won-t-take)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4250295/michael-bloomberg-president-trump-cruz/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4250295/michael-bloomberg-president-trump-cruz/"},"headline":"Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Will Not Run for President","datePublished":"2016-03-07T22:13:21.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T16:47:33.000Z","description":"\"It’s clear to me that if I entered the race, I could not win\"","url":"https://time.com/4250295/michael-bloomberg-president-trump-cruz/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9920edd2970edc6/69888a0b0a4a22e1259c8b7a/bloomberg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9920edd2970edc6/69888a0b0a4a22e1259c8b7a/bloomberg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Campaign 2016 Bloomberg","caption":"Campaign 2016 Bloomberg","creditText":"Thibault Camus—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4250295/michael-bloomberg-president-trump-cruz/","name":"Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Will Not Run for President"}}]}] ```