IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Bloomberg reassessing candidacy, will meet with advisers

The former New York mayor fell short in most Super Tuesday states, lagging far behind in the delegate count.
Image: \Mike Bloomberg speaks at a Super Tuesday event in West Palm Beach, Fla., on March 3, 2020.
Mike Bloomberg speaks at a Super Tuesday event in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, March 3, 2020.Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Mike Bloomberg is reassessing whether to stay in the Democratic primary campaign after a disappointing performance on Super Tuesday and will meet with top advisers Wednesday morning in New York to discuss his next steps, senior campaign officials told NBC News.

The campaign officials said no final decision had been made. Bloomberg, who flew from Florida back to New York City on Tuesday night, has no public events scheduled for Wednesday.

After pouring more than $500 million of his own money into his campaign, Bloomberg failed to meet the 15 percent threshold required to win delegates in most Super Tuesday states, earning only a small number of delegates and lagging far behind former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in the delegate count.

Earlier, the former New York mayor insisted he would continue his campaign beyond Super Tuesday.

At a campaign stop in Miami earlier Tuesday, Bloomberg suggested that he was prepared for a contested convention if necessary, saying "I don't think that I can win any other way" and adding that he was "in it to win it."

Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics

On Tuesday, Vanity Fair reported that multiple advisers urged Bloomberg to get out of the race ahead of Super Tuesday and endorse Biden but that he refused. The campaign publicly disputed the report.

Campaign manager Kevin Sheekey downplayed criticism Tuesday that Bloomberg was drawing support from Biden, effectively boosting Sanders and increasing the chances of a contested convention.

Despite the results Tuesday night, Bloomberg's campaign has invested $7 million in advertisements in states that vote after Super Tuesday, including delegate-rich Florida, according to the tracking firm Ad Analytics.

Bloomberg shook up the Democratic field in late November, jumping into the race just 100 days before Super Tuesday at the height of Democratic panic that Biden was too weak a candidate to win the nomination.

Bloomberg skipped the first four voting states — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — instead focusing his time and money on Super Tuesday.

Early on, Bloomberg's unprecedented campaign strategy appeared to work. He performed well in polls and racked up endorsements as Biden struggled to earn the party's confidence after his poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire.

But Bloomberg's favorability plummeted after the Las Vegas Democratic debate, at which he was attacked for his alleged past comments about female employees and for having enacted racially discriminatory policies as mayor.

Bloomberg has said that even if he does not win the nomination, he will redirect his more than 500 campaign staffers to support the eventual nominee.