New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who’s considering a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, will make a trip to Iowa this weekend.
The Woodbury County Democratic Party announced de Blasio will make an appearance at a meet-and-greet event on Saturday afternoon, and an aide confirmed to CNN a report by the Des Moines Register that he will also stop at the Asian and Latino Coalition in Des Moines on Sunday.
The trip adds to growing signs that the New Yorker could join the growing field of Democrats vying for the party nomination in 2020.
The mayorhad been set to visit New Hampshire, another early-voting state, last weekend but ended up scrapping the trip after the death of a New York City police detective, according to The New York Times.
De Blasio’s plans to visit the primary hot spots buttress comments he has previously made about keeping the door open on a run.
“I never rule things out because you never know what life brings,” de Blasio told CNN in January. “But I’m focused on the work I’m doing now and getting this message out.”
A former aide told CNN that, as the mayor has intimated, he is seriously considering a presidential bid.
“He’s got a true progressive record of results, but the personality conflicts (he’s had with the New York press) will really hang over any possible run,” the former aide said.
If he were to declare a run, de Blasio could share a common background with several other candidates in the field: Fellow Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, and fellow New York lawmaker Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand have both announced presidential exploratory committees. De Blasio’s predecessor former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is also considering a run.
This story has been updated.
