--- title: Bernie Sanders ‘Confident’ He’d Win Over Michael Bloomberg description: Bernie Sanders said he’s confident he could take on two billionaires should former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg enter the race. canonical: https://time.com/4191912/bernie-sanders-michael-bloomberg/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-24T19:40:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T19:54:33.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bernie Sanders Is ‘Confident’ He’d Win Over Michael Bloomberg og:description: Bloomberg is exploring an independent campaign for president og:url: https://time.com/4191912/bernie-sanders-michael-bloomberg/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e142de526746bca/69887a605f570f56cfb1f51a/bernie-sanders-michael-bloomberg.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: &lt;&gt; on January 24, 2016 in Dubuque, Iowa. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bernie Sanders Is ‘Confident’ He’d Win Over Michael Bloomberg twitter:description: Bloomberg is exploring an independent campaign for president twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e142de526746bca/69887a605f570f56cfb1f51a/bernie-sanders-michael-bloomberg.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bernie Sanders Is ‘Confident’ He’d Beat Michael Bloomberg  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:54 PM UTCPublished: Jan 24, 2016 7:40 PM UTC  Bernie Sanders is pictured here on Jan. 24 in Dubuque, Iowa. Bernie Sanders is pictured here on Jan. 24 in Dubuque, Iowa.Scott Olson-2016 Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:54 PM UTCPublished: Jan 24, 2016 7:40 PM UTC Bernie Sanders said Sunday he’s confident he could take on two multi-billionaires should Donald Trump win the Republican nomination and [former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg enter the race](http://time.com/4191502/michael-bloomberg-presidential-run/) as an independent candidate. The Vermont Senator discussed the possibility of taking on the duo on [ABC News’ _This Week_](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-jeb-bush-sen-bernie-sanders/story?id=36479374), telling co-anchor Martha Raddatz the showdown would be “interesting.” “It will tell people what I have been saying for a long time,” Sanders said, “that this country is moving away from democracy to oligarchy, that billionaires are the people who are controlling our political life.” “That is not what, to my view, American democracy is supposed to be about, a contest between billionaires,” he added. “If that takes place, I am confident that we will win it.” Sanders’ comments come after [Hillary Clinton said she will be the one to secure the Democratic nomination](http://time.com/4191887/hillary-clinton-michael-bloomberg-presidential-run/?xid=homepage) and save Bloomberg from having to make a decision. Bloomberg is exploring an independent campaign for President, TIME confirmed Saturday. “He’s a good friend of mine,” Clinton said of the former mayor. “The way I read what he said is if I didn’t get the nomination, he might consider it. Well, I’m going to relieve him of that and get the nomination so he doesn’t have to.” Trump also chimed in Sunday, saying he’d welcome Bloomberg to throw his hat in the ring. “I would love to have Michael Bloomberg run. I would love that competition. I think I’d do very well against it,” Trump said on NBC’s _Meet the Press_. “Michael has been a friend of mine over the years. I don’t know if we’re friends anymore, frankly. But Michael has been a friend of mine.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4191912/bernie-sanders-michael-bloomberg/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4191912/bernie-sanders-michael-bloomberg/"},"headline":"Bernie Sanders Is ‘Confident’ He’d Beat Michael Bloomberg","datePublished":"2016-01-24T19:40:42.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T19:54:33.000Z","description":"Bloomberg is exploring an independent campaign for President","url":"https://time.com/4191912/bernie-sanders-michael-bloomberg/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e142de526746bca/69887a605f570f56cfb1f51a/bernie-sanders-michael-bloomberg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e142de526746bca/69887a605f570f56cfb1f51a/bernie-sanders-michael-bloomberg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"<> on January 24, 2016 in Dubuque, Iowa.","caption":"Bernie Sanders is pictured here on Jan. 24 in Dubuque, Iowa.","creditText":"Scott Olson-2016 Getty Images","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/4191912/bernie-sanders-michael-bloomberg/","name":"Bernie Sanders Is ‘Confident’ He’d Beat Michael Bloomberg"}}]}] ```