Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire and former mayor of New York, said he plans to decide by January or February whether he will run for president in 2020.
“I think January, February would be about as late as you can do it and as early as you can gather enough information,” he told the Associated Press in an interview published Tuesday.
{mosads}Bloomberg added that he would sit down with advisers around Thanksgiving, Christmas and “maybe a few weeks into January” to chart out a potential bid.
“That’s when you really gotta sit down, talk to your advisers and say, ‘Look, do I have a chance?’ I think I know why I would want to run. I think I know what I think this country should do and what I would do. But I just don’t know whether it’s possible,” he told the AP.
“If people don’t seem to be warming to you, there’s plenty of other ways that I can make a difference in life and say thank you to this country for what it’s given my kids and me,” he added.
Bloomberg, who has switched his party affiliation several times, told the AP that he “will be a Democrat for the rest of my life.” He pointed to his record on issues such as gun control and gay marriage as areas where he feels he’s had a positive impact.
“I don’t think anybody has done more on the environment, on gun safety, on immigration, go right down the list,” he said. “I was the one who stood up for gay marriage long before it became popular. I was the one at the national convention who said [President] Trump was a con man. If you find anybody that’s done more on these issues than I have, and the people that I’ve been lucky enough to work with, please give me a call.”
The former mayor has previously hinted he may run for president, telling CNN last month that he would decide whether to run sometime after the midterms.
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Bloomberg donated heavily in the midterms, giving tens of millions of dollars to Democrats, mostly to candidates for House seats.
He also stepped into the spotlight again shortly before Election Day last week, spending $5 million to air a television advertisement that featured him urging voters to support Democrats in the election.