A2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 , 2020
HAPPENING TODAYFor the latest updates all day, visit washingtonpost.com.All day | Vi ce President Pence attends a campaign event in Janesville,
Wis., before speaking at a rally in Bozeman, Mont. For developments, visit
washingtonpost.com/politics.
All day | Th e World Health Organization holds a meeting in Geneva
through Tu esday on the coronavirus response in Europe. Visit
washingtonpost.com/world for details.
9 a.m. | Se cretary of State Mike Pompeo meets with ministers from
Qatar. Tr easury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary
Wilbur Ross will be in attendance. For developments, visit
washingtonpost.com/national.
10:30 a.m. | German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Union
officials hold a news briefing on their videoconference with Chinese
President Xi Jinping. Visit washingtonpost.com/world for details.
5 p.m. | Pr esident Trump is in Phoenix to hold a Latinos for Tr ump event.
For developments, visit washingtonpost.com/politics.
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Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg addresses the crowd at a Super Tuesday rally in Palm Beach, Fla., on M arch 3.BY MICHAEL SCHERERFormer New York mayor Mike
Bloomberg plans to spend at least
$100 million in Florida to help
elect Democrat Joe Biden, a mas-
sive late-stage infusion of cash
that could reshape the presiden-
tial contest in a costly toss-up
state central to President Trump’s
reelection hopes.
Bloomberg made the decision
to focus his final election spend-
ing on Florida last week, after
news reports that Trump had
considered spending as much as
$100 million of his own money in
the final weeks of the campaign,
Bloomberg’s advisers said. Pre-
sented with several options on
how to make good on an earlier
promise to help elect Biden,
Bloomberg decided that a narrow
focus on Florida was the best use
of his money.
The president’s campaign has
long treated the state, which
Trump now calls home, as a top
priority, and his advisers remain
confident in his chances given
strong turnout in 2016 and 2018
that gave Republicans narrow
winning margins in statewide
contests.
“Voting starts on Sept. 24 in
Florida, so the need to inject real
capital in that state quickly is an
urgent need,” Bloomberg adviser
Kevin Sheekey said. “Mike be-
lieves that by investing in Florida,
it will allow campaign resources
and other Democratic resources
to be used in other states, in
particular the state of Pennsylva-
nia.”
The last Republican to win the
White House without Florida was
Calvin Coolidge in 1924, and a loss
of the state’s 29 electoral votes
would radically shrink Trump’s
paths to reelection. With Floridain his column, Biden would be
able to take the presidency by
holding every state that Hillary
Clinton won in 2016 and winning
any one of the following: Arizona,
Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylva-
nia and North Carolina, all states
where Biden leads in current pub-
lic polling averages.
In response to the Florida com-
mitment, Trump attacked Bloom-
berg on Sunday morning, mock-
ing his performance in the Demo-
cratic primary debates earlier
this year. “I thought Mini Mike
was through with Democrat poli-
tics,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“Save NYC instead,” he added.
In recent weeks, polls in Flori-
da have narrowed, with the Cook
Political Report recently shifting
the state from “lean Democrat” to
“toss up.” A Washington Post av-
erage of public polls since August
finds Biden up by one percentage
point in the state, well within the
margin of error. While he has
been doing better than past Dem-
ocratic candidates with Whites
and seniors, Biden has struggled
among the state’s Latino popula-
tion, which Republicans have fo-
cused enormous resources on
courting over several election cy-
cles.
“If you have the ability to make
sure that you are able to speak
directly to all of these different
communities and where they live,
then you are going a long way to
securing the states for Biden in
this election,” Rep. Ted Deutch
(D-Fla.) said. “I’m glad that Mike
Bloomberg recognized this and is
prepared to make an investment
to make sure that every one of
those communities will be aware
of the importance of this elec-
tion.”
The spending will focus mostly
on television and digital ads, in
English and Spanish.
Bloomberg’s aim is to prompt
enough early voting that a pro-
Biden result would be evident
soon after the polls close. Florida,
unlike other swing states, reports
almost all early ballots shortly
after voting ends.
Democrats and Republicans
have worried that early results
will dictate public perceptions of
who will ultimately win the elec-
tion. In many states, the firstreported votes are more Republi-
can, but the numbers turn more
Democratic over time as more
mail-in and early votes are added
to the tally.
“It would give lie to what we
expect to be Trump’s election
night messaging that Democrats
are stealing the election because
unlike other battleground states,
Florida counts its absentee bal-
lots on or by Election Day,”
Bloomberg adviser Howard Wolf-
son said. “We think Florida is
incredibly close but winnable.”
A recent report by Hawkfish, a
voter data firm funded by Bloom-
berg, predicted that even in a
scenario in which Biden wins 54
percent of the final vote, partisan
differences in mail-voting prefer-
ence could lead to an initial count
that shows Trump winning with
55 percent of ballots tabulated
nationally on Nov. 3. In public
polling, Republican voters have
reported far less interest in voting
by mail or voting early than Dem-
ocrats.
A prominent Democratic con-
sultant in Florida, not aware of
the Bloomberg decision, said Sat-
urday that Democratic outside
groups have mostly focused on
Midwestern states because of the
prohibitive cost of advertising in
Florida. This person, speaking on
the condition of anonymity to
discuss strategy, estimated that it
would take $15 million to $20 mil-
lion to significantly move Biden’s
numbers among Latinos and
$60 million to $70 million to get
on television across the state over
the next 51 days and have a real
impact.
Between March 24 and Sept. 11,
the Biden campaign and Demo-
cratic groups outspent Trump
and Republican groups in the
state on television by a margin of
$42 million to $32 million, ac-
cording to data from a Democrat-
ic tracking firm. But future reser-
vations suggest that gap is set to
narrow, in part because of in-
creased investment by wealthy
Trump backers operating inde-
pendently of his campaign.
Preserve America, a new super
PAC expected to be backed by Las
Vegas casino magnate Sheldon
Adelson, announced $30 million
in spending in seven states this
month, including Florida, with
more spending expected to be
announced soon. The group has
not disclosed its donors.
Bloomberg’s advisers de-
scribed the spending plan as
“nine figures” and declined to say
how much higher than $100 mil-lion Bloomberg might be willing
to go, if at all. They said Bloom-
berg is hopeful that his commit-
ment will push other wealthy
Democratic donors to further
open their pocketbooks for other
states in the final months of the
campaign. Bloomberg’s money
will be spent through Independ-
ence USA, his super PAC, and
other Democratic groups.
Between November and
March, Bloomberg spent more
than $1 billion on his failed bid
for the Democratic nomination,
including about $275 million on
ads that criticized Trump. When
he endorsed Biden, he announced
that he would “work to make him
the next President of the United
States.” Bloomberg subsequently
received a prime speaking slot on
the final night of the Democratic
convention this year.
But just what Bloomberg, who
is estimated to be worth more
than $50 billion, planned to do
with his money has remained a
significant source of suspense
among Democratic strategists.
After flooding local and state
Democratic Party accounts with
money during his campaign,
Bloomberg transferred about
$20 million in cash and prepaid
office leases to the Democratic
National Committee, taking ad-
vantage of a provision of cam-
paign finance law that allows
candidates to donate leftover
money. He also spread his money
to benefit state and local Demo-
cratic candidates.
A group he helps to fund,
E verytown for Gun Safety, has
pledged to spend $60 million on
elections this cycle, and he has
committed another $60 million
to help preserve or strengthen the
Democratic House majority.
Swing Left, a group focused on
winning state legislative seats,
and Fair Fight, a voter protection
effort led by former Georgia gu-
bernatorial candidate Stacey
Abrams, have also received mil-
lions. Bloomberg has not yet an-
nounced any spending to help
elect a Democratic Senate, after
allotting $20 million to the effort
in 2018.
The former New York mayor, a
onetime Republican and inde-
pendent who changed his voter
registration to Democratic in
2018, has also given an additional
$35 million to Hawkfish, which is
working to improve voter target-
ing with independent groups on
the Democratic side. The group
combines voter file data with ex-
pensive consumer data, in an
effort to better assist Democrats
in targeting and turning out vot-
ers.
Through Hawkfish, advisers
said, Bloomberg has also quietly
funded other distinct programs
with multimillion-dollar budgets,
including an effort with Unite the
Country, a pro-Biden super PAC,
to launch a digital campaign tar-
geting 400,000 veterans in battle-
ground states like Pennsylvania
and Florida.
A separate Hawkfish program,
with a nonprofit called the Collec-
tive Education Fund, is targeting
digital ads to communities of
color in an effort focused on ma-
jor cities in key states, including
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Mil-
waukee and Detroit.
“The bottom line is, when you
have additional resources, you
can solidify your voters and then
communicate with those who are
still on the fence for some reason,”
Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) said.
“One-hundred-million can do
just that.”
[email protected]Bloomberg plans to boost Biden in Fla.
Former rival pledges
at least $100 million of
spending in swing stateAll programs will be streamed live
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