Ex-NYC Mayor Bloomberg won't run for president in 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former New York City mayor, announced today he will not join the crowded field of Democrats running for president in 2020.

Instead, Bloomberg said he planned to focus his energy and considerable resources on outside efforts aimed at defeating President Donald Trump, as well as on combating climate change and addressing gun violence.

Bloomberg spent months weighing a White House run, traveling to early voting states and building a team of experienced political advisers. But aides said internal polling suggested Bloomberg's path to the Democratic nomination was narrow, particularly if Vice President Joe Biden – who shares some of Bloomberg's moderate positions – decides to run.

In an editorial for Bloomberg News – the media company Bloomberg owns – he said he was "clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field."

Bloomberg has flirted with a presidential run before, but as an independent. He registered as a Democrat last fall and began pitching himself to primary voters as a political centrist. But as an older white man with strong ties to Wall Street, he may have struggled to win over the Democratic Party's energized liberal base that's increasingly embracing diversity.

He encouraged Democrats today to unify behind a nominee who could beat Trump, a not-so-subtle dig against candidates pushing the party to embrace liberal priorities such as "Medicare-for-all."