Bloomberg campaign plans 2,400 events in 30 states ahead of Super Tuesday
Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's campaign on Saturday will begin a massive voter outreach push, with plans to hold more than 2,400 events across 30 states ahead of Super Tuesday, ABC News has learned.
The mobilization drive, beginning as the rest of the Democratic field remained focused on the South Carolina primary, is a show of force meant to highlight the scale of Bloomberg's nationwide operation.
With Bloomberg appearing on primary ballots for the first time on Tuesday, his 2,100-person campaign's effort will complement the overwhelming advertising campaign he's waged on television and online. He's spent more than half-a-billion dollars since entering the Democratic primary, at an average of more than $5 million a day.
"Our team of thousands of committed volunteers and state staff are spending the days leading up to Super Tuesday connecting with voters in their towns and communities across the U.S.," Dan Kanninen, Bloomberg's states director, told ABC News in a statement.
"Our unmatched organization will be in full display this weekend as we continue to build on our momentum and talk to voters about Mike's record on critical issues like health care, climate change, and gun violence prevention, and why he is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump in November."
In addition to new national television spots this week touting his record in City Hall and knocking President Trump's response to the spread of the coronavirus, the Bloomberg campaign has aired ads in Super Tuesday states tailored to local issues and audiences – from public lands in Utah, to women's reproductive rights and the El Paso shooting and gun control in Texas, according to a campaign official.
Bloomberg is continuing an aggressive travel schedule this weekend and through Tuesday, a swing that began Thursday and includes more than 10 stops across six southern states, ending with an event in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday night.
Bloomberg held events in Houston, Oklahoma City and Bentonville, Arkansas, on Thursday before spending Friday traveling through Tennessee. He'll start the weekend in Virginia, before traveling to North Carolina, Alabama, and back to Texas.
The campaign is planning to dispatch 75 surrogates across the country to rally organizers and volunteers, including former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and Bloomberg's longtime girlfriend Diana Taylor, who will be campaigning for Bloomberg in California, Utah, Arkansas and Alabama.
Despite his staffing and advertising advantage over some of his opponents – Bloomberg has 200 offices around the country and more than 100 in Super Tuesday states – the former mayor still faces a challenge next week, as he seeks to make a dent in Sen. Bernie Sanders' delegate lead and pull ahead from the rest of the still-crowded field.
The Vermont senator, the frontrunner since the Iowa caucuses, is expected to perform well in a number of states, including delegate-rich California. And a strong showing from former Vice President Joe Biden, who is favored to win the South Carolina primary Saturday, could also complicate Bloomberg's efforts to reach viability across the map on Tuesday, and deny the delegates Sanders needs to clinch the Democratic Party's nomination in the coming months.
