New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) will visit New Hampshire this week and has reportedly begun seeking staff with national political campaign experience as he mulls a possible 2020 presidential bid.
Politico reports that de Blasio will visit the state that holds the first 2020 primary and has been talking with staffers who worked for previous presidential campaigns about the future of the Democratic Party and its 2020 platform.
{mosads}“He wants to make sure ideas like pre-K for all, paid personal time and mental health are on the table as Democrats debate the party’s vision for the future,” de Blasio’s communications director Mike Casca told Politico.
The visit to New Hampshire will follow a speech Thursday at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and will include a meeting with Nashua, N.H., Mayor Jim Donchess (D) on Friday, where de Blasio will possibly meet with locals, according to the news outlet.
His trip to the Granite State comes a month after he refused to rule out a 2020 bid for the presidency in an appearance on CNN, arguing that the Democratic Party could “go a lot farther. We could be a lot bolder than what we’re doing.”
“There’s a lot of good candidates” that have entered the primary so far, de Blasio said in January. “There’s not a consensus yet in our party. There is still, I think, a lack of recognition that if you have tens of millions of people hurt, we’re not speaking to them. Donald Trump spoke to them.”
The progressive mayor has touted his past support for policies such as “Medicare for all” as a model for national Democrats.
“This is the kind of thing Democrats should stand for,” de Blasio added in January. “If we say to the American people our job is to get you health care no matter what, no matter how much money you make or what your situation, that’s the kind of thing that is going to resonate with the American people because so many Americans, tens of millions are struggling to make ends meet.”