ATLANTA (AP) – Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg came to Georgia on Friday to meet influential Democrat Stacey Abrams and then rally a white-collar crowd of supporters around his late-starting, unusual White House campaign.
His visit with Abrams and a private speech to a voting rights summit she hosted comes after disclosures that the billionaire former New York City mayor donated $5 million to the political action group Abrams founded after her narrow defeat in the 2018 Georgia governor’s race.
Abrams has met with several White House hopefuls and given no indication that she will endorse anyone. Bloomberg’s moves nonetheless underscore the unusual path he is hoping to carve out to the White House as he bypasses the four early voting states and uses his vast personal fortune to build out a national campaign in the states that follow.
“Our campaign is going to stay here until November,” Bloomberg promised as he officially launched his operation in the state Friday after meeting with Abrams.
Georgia’s primary is March 24, three weeks after a Super Tuesday slate that Bloomberg hopes establishes him as more than a billionaire spoiler.