Mike Bloomberg Promises to Fight On After Super Tuesday Flop

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is promising to remain in the 2020 presidential contest after his campaign spent hundreds of millions but came up short on Super Tuesday.

Bloomberg, who has spent more money on Tuesday’s primaries than all of the other Democrats combined, struck a defiant tone while addressing supporters in Florida.

“I came here because winning in November starts with Florida,” said the former New York City mayor in explaining his decision to campaign in the Sunshine State, even though its primary is not for another week. “We will beat Donald Trump here in Florida and swing states around the country.”

Despite the focus on swing states, Bloomberg made no mention of his disastrous performance in other swing states like North Carolina and Virginia—where he is unlikely to meet the threshold required for delegates. In Virginia, in particular, the former mayor spent more than $18 million but failed to crack more than ten percent of the vote. Former Vice President Joe Biden, on the other hand, easily won the state, even though he only spent around $233,000.

Bloomberg’s lackluster return on investment was mirrored in other Super Tuesday states across the country. In Tennessee, where the former mayor outspent rivals like Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) by more than $5 million, Bloomberg placed a distant third.

Overall, the former mayor spent more than $600 million on advertising and staff since launching his campaign in late-November. All of the money, however, was unable to secure outright victories outside of the sparsely populated U.S. territory of American Samoa.

Bloomberg, though, did not address any of that on Tuesday, choosing to focus on the strides he has made since jumping into the 2020 race.

“No matter how many delegates we win tonight, we have done something no one else thought was possible,” Bloomberg said in Florida. “In just three months, we’ve gone from just one percent in the polls to being a contender for the Democratic nomination.”