SALT LAKE CITY — Now that Mike Bloomberg has dropped out of the race and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden after a dismal Super Tuesday showing that included a third-place finish in Utah, there’s a push for him to continue helping Democrats in the GOP-dominated state.
The billionaire former New York City mayor spent more than $3 million just on TV commercials and other advertising in Utah in addition to hiring a staff of 20 people and opening two offices, in Salt Lake City and Draper, an unprecedented investment in the state for a Democratic presidential candidate.
A key Biden supporter in Utah, former state Senate minority leader Scott Howell, said talks are already underway to see if Bloomberg will maintain his operations here for the benefit of down ballot candidates, including the state’s only Democratic member of Congress, Rep. Ben McAdams.
McAdams, who is seen as one of the most vulnerable Democrats in Congress seeking reelection in November, endorsed Bloomberg in January. Utah, considered one of the reddest states in the country, has not voted for a Democrat for president since 1964.
Howell said it’s to be determined whether Bloomberg keeps his presence in Utah as well as other states.
“In negotiations right now to leave the infrastructure in place as well as the funding. Very interesting conversations going on, right now, on that very subject,” Howell told the Deseret News. “It’s not only Ben. It’s across the United States. It’s phenomenal what Bloomberg has invested. Just phenomenal.”
Bloomberg’s Utah spokeswoman, Catherine Sant Marr, declined to comment on the future of his involvement in Utah, referring a reporter to the former presidential candidate’s statement about leaving the race released Wednesday morning.
“We made our campaign slogan a clear, simple promise: Mike will get it done. And I intend to keep working on the ‘it,’” Bloomberg said, citing issues including gun safety, climate change and health care, as well as “helping mayors and local leaders across the country who are doing so much important work on all of these issues.”
He thanked supporters “who every day, with their voices and their ideas, made this campaign such a powerful experience. And I am intent on making it a lasting experience: I want my supporters to stay engaged, stay active and stay committed to our issues. I will be right there with you. And together, we will get it done.”
Andrew Roberts, McAdams’ campaign manager — and senior policy advisor to Bloomberg in Utah — said the congressman “is focused on his work in Congress and not what Mike Bloomberg’s campaign does next. He endorsed him in the primary, but Utah has voted and it’s time for others across the nation to have their say.”
Roberts said McAdams “hasn’t made any decisions yet” about endorsing Biden.
Samantha Zager, regional communications director for Republican President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, said in a statement, “Utahns deserve to know which radical 2020 Democrat will be the highest bidder and receive Ben McAdams’ endorsement now that Bloomberg came up short.”
Bloomberg came in third in the state’s first Super Tuesday primary, with just under 17% of the vote in the latest results released Wednesday. He leaves as the Democratic race has narrowed to between Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Biden, even though other candidates remain.
Sanders was the winner in Utah, with 35% of the vote so far in the largely by-mail election, followed by Biden, with just over 17%. Although Sanders won three other states, including California, the big delegate prize among the 14 states and one U.S. territory that voted Tuesday, Biden won more states and leads in the delegate count.
Democratic candidates must win at least 15% of the vote to claim delegates.
State Elections Director Justin Lee said updated results from Utah’s first-ever Super Tuesday primary will be posted online daily at 3 p.m. He said Salt Lake County alone reported Wednesday more than 40,000 ballots cast still have to be counted, on top of an unknown number of ballots yet to arrive in the mail.
Lee said about 90% of the ballots already counted in what was a record turnout — more than 34% as of Tuesday night — were either mailed in or dropped off after being completed. As much as a quarter of the voting took place Monday or Tuesday, he said.
Only about 36% of the ballots cast were in the Democratic primary, with the rest in a Republican contest easily won by Trump with more than 88% of the vote. Lee credited the ease of voting by mail with so many members of the GOP returning their ballots in what was essentially a non-competitive race.
One Republican, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who has sparred with Trump made and headlines as the only member of his party to vote to convict the president in the impeachment proceedings, declined to tell CNN Wednesday whether he cast his ballot for Trump in the primary after saying he voted for a Republican.
Among the five GOP candidates challenging Trump in Utah’s primary was Bill Weld, a former Massachusetts governor, as is Romney. Weld, who told the Deseret News and KSL editorial boards in February he was running to plant a flag of decency and integrity, came in second behind the president, but mustered less than 7% of the vote.
The deadline for Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, whose office oversees election, to certify the presidential primary election results isn’t until March 24, and it could take until then before the Utah Democratic Party can finalize the allocation of the state’s 29 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July where the party’s nominee will be named.
“We’re going to do the best that we can but we’re certainly not going to do anything until the lieutenant governor and the county clerks feel they have all the ballots in,” State Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Merchant said. Ten of delegates are allocated statewide and the rest are allocated by congressional district.
Merchant said Bloomberg’s decision to drop out of the race Wednesday and endorse Biden, joining two other Democratic presidential candidates who did the same earlier this week — former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar — “just shows the health of the Democratic Party.”
“Ultimately, Democrats want to see Donald Trump out of the White House,” Merchant said, so they are coalescing around Biden and Sanders because they do not want to “lose that opportunity because their preferred candidate is not the nominee.”
Howell, who said Bloomberg sought his support before his second campaign appearance in Salt Lake City last month, said the billionaire’s departure from the race sends a message in Utah that “moderate Republicans, moderate Democrats, now have a safe home” with Biden.
But he express concern for McAdams and other Democrats who expect to be on the ballot in November.
“I think it’s time for the Bernie people to have a realistic conversation about electability,” Howell said, and look for a candidate for the top of the ticket “who will help our single Democratic congressman here in Utah. It’s not Bernie Sanders. It’s Joe Biden,”
Bloomberg said in a statement that he got into the race for president three months ago “to defeat Donald Trump. Today, I am leaving the race for the same reason: to defeat Donald Trump — because it is clear to me that staying in would make achieving that goal more difficult.”
Although Bloomberg had said he hoped to stay in the race to make his case at what still could be a contested Democratic convention, with no candidate having enough delegates to secure the nomination on the first ballot, he said he’s “a believer in using data to inform decisions.
“After yesterday’s results, the delegate math has become virtually impossible — and a viable path to the nomination no longer exists. But I remain clear-eyed about my overriding objective: victory in November. Not for me, but for our country. And so while I will not be the nominee, I will not walk away from the most important political fight of my life.“
Bloomberg endorsed Biden, saying “defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it. After yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden. I’ve known Joe for a very long time. I know his decency, his honesty, and his commitment to the issues that are so important to our country — including gun safety, health care, climate change and good jobs.”