Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says now that Democrats have won the House, they have to “do something.”
“If they just sit back and do the same thing that the people they just ousted did then I’m not gonna be happy and I’ve told Nancy Pelosi that,” said Bloomberg, who spent more than $110 million in last month’s midterms to help Democrats wrest control of the House from Republicans.
Bloomberg, who is considering a presidential run in 2020, spoke to CNN on Tuesday during a daylong trip to Iowa — a crucial early voting state — where he was promoting his new documentary about climate change.
The media and financial data mogul made multiple stops across the state, including at an electric company in Cedar Rapids and a community college in Ankeny that trains student to work on wind turbines. In a classroom with turbine simulators, Bloomberg told students they were building promising careers in well-paying green jobs.
Bloomberg said he wasn’t visiting Iowa to solicit votes — yet.
“Ask a question, make a friend,” said Bloomberg, who has previously said he’d decide early in 2019.
“They are used to having candidates from around the country come here every four years,” said Bloomberg. “They’ve seen it all and they understand you’re coming here because you want to get to know them and solicit the votes.”
Bloomberg, who recently re-registered as a Democrat, said he anticipates a crowded field to challenge President Donald Trump. When asked about former Vice President Joe Biden’s assertion this week that he’d be the most qualified, Bloomberg said that is a prerequisite for the job.
“You would think that anybody that’s running for the job would think that they’re qualified to be it,” said Bloomberg. “Joe Biden’s a guy who I’ve known for a long time, he’s a very competent guy and they’ll be 25 people or 20 people running on the Democratic side, all of whom I think would answer the question the same way if you asked it.”
Bloomberg recited a long list of accomplishments he says qualify him to lead the nation.
“I do think that after 12 years in City Hall, dealing with international problems and security problems and economic problems and creating jobs and the environment and guns and women’s rights and tobacco and these things, that I have a lot of experience which would be useful if I was President of the United States,” said Bloomberg. “It’s one thing to say something, it’s a different thing to have actually done it.”
