Billionaire and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg is planning to spend around $15 million on television advertising in Texas and Ohio during the final week of the presidential campaign to help Democratic candidate Joe Biden defeat President Donald Trump, the Texas Tribune reported, citing a Bloomberg spokesperson.
Bloomberg, who lost to Biden in the race for the Democratic nomination despite spending almost $1 billion of his own fortune on his campaign, previously vowed to spend up to $100 million to support Biden in Florida though his super PAC, Independence USA, and other Democratic groups.
“We believe that Florida will go down to the wire, and we were looking for additional opportunities to expand the map,” Bloomberg aide Howard Wolfson told the New York Times. “Texas and Ohio present the best opportunities to do that, in our view.”
The Texas ads, in English and Spanish, will focus on Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Ohio ads will focus on the pandemic plus the economy and Biden’s “build back better” theme, the outlet reported.
Trump won Texas and Ohio in the 2016 election, and holding on to both states is crucial to his re-election prospects.
The latest polls show Trump leads in Texas while Ohio remains too close to call.
Bloomberg is also set to donate $20 million for down ballot races where climate change is a hot issue.
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) October 27, 2020
