On Wednesday, former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg suspended his presidential campaign.
In a statement to the press, Bloomberg cited his poor showing in the Super Tuesday primaries as the central reason for dropping out. “After yesterday’s results, the delegate math has become virtually impossible,” Bloomberg said, “and a viable path to the nomination no longer exists.”
One of the richest men in the world, Bloomberg overwhelmed other candidates with advertising, often spending over a million dollars a day on Facebook ads. But after a disappointing performance in the debates, he was unable to attract a stable base of support among primary voters.
Bloomberg was the first major candidate to experiment with social media marketing, hiring dozens of influencers to publicly support his campaign. Twitter suspended 70 accounts after one such push, citing its policies on coordinated inauthentic behavior. A number of platforms have spelled out political influencer policies more explicitly in the wake of the campaign.
Just three days before dropping out, Bloomberg spent over $1 million on a three-minute quasi-presidential address, in which he criticized President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
As part of his decision to exit the campaign, Bloomberg formally endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, the current Democratic frontrunner. “Joe has fought for working people his whole life,” Bloomberg said. “Today I am glad to endorse him – and I will work to make him the next President of the United States.”
