Michael Bloomberg will make his Democratic presidential debate debut Wednesday in Las Vegas and his fellow hopefuls are expected to raise the ante on him by dealing out questions on his controversial comments and lavish spending on his self-funded campaign.
Bloomberg, the former three-term mayor of New York, has managed to avoid face-to-face scrutiny from the other Democratic contenders because he sat out the first four primary contests of the 2020 campaign season, including Nevada.
The 78-year-old billionaire, who has already spent more than $400 million on a national advertising blitz, is putting all his marbles in a huge payoff in the delegate-rich, 14-state voting extravaganza called Super Tuesday on March 3.
But that unconventional campaign tactic will likely take center stage during the debate as the other contenders are expected to slam the billionaire media titan on whether he’s using his $60 billion fortune to buy the election.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts set the tone when she responded on Twitter to Bloomberg’s meeting the polling requirements for entry into the debate.
“It’s a shame Mike Bloomberg can buy his way into the debate. But at least now primary voters curious about how each candidate will take on Donald Trump can get a live demonstration of how we each take on an egomaniac billionaire,” she said in a Tuesday posting.
Bloomberg’s national advertising barrage has led to his rise in the polls since entering the race in November, long after the other candidates had already begun criss-crossing the country.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is also surging after his strong finish in the first two primary contests — Iowa and New Hampshire — taunted Bloomberg during a campaign stop in Reno on Tuesday.
“Anybody here with $60 billion, you can run for president, and you can buy the airwaves,” he said. “That is called oligarchy, not democracy.”
Bloomberg can expect a grilling from Sanders and Warren as well as the other debate participants — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Bloomberg has been dogged by comments he made years ago that resurfaced in recent weeks.
During a speech in 2016, he was accused of suggesting that farmers and factory workers lack the “gray matter” to be successful in today’s information technology economy, though he argued he was only talking about farmers thousands of years ago.
He’s also expected to be questioned by the other candidates or the debate moderators about using the stop-and-frisk police tactic while mayor and allegations of sexism at his media company.
At the same time, Bloomberg will tout accomplishments, including donating millions of dollars to boost Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections and his unceasing work on gun control.
A number of the guests he invited to attend the debate will be survivors of gun violence or their family members.
Robert Gaafar of Rockville Center, NY, survived the Oct. 1, 2017, shooting in Las Vegas that killed 58 people.
Roxanna Green’s 9-year-old daughter, Christina-Taylor Green, was killed on Jan. 8, 2011, when a gunman opened fire at a political event in Tucson, Ariz., that left Rep. Gabby Giffords with serious injuries.