Bloomberg donates $2m to boost Black voter registration

Former 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, Michael Bloomberg has donated $2 million into efforts to boost African American voter registration ahead of November’s general election.

Bloomberg dropped out of the scramble for the Democratic Party presidential nomination after a humiliating performance at the Super Tuesday.

Bloomberg donated to Collective Future, a nonprofit arm of The Collective PAC to “fix the challenge of African American Underrepresentation in elected seats of power throughout our nation.”

“Voter suppression efforts across the country have been a barely-disguised effort to keep Black Americans and other Democratic-leaning voters from the polls,” Bloomberg said.

He added: “I’ve always believed we need to make it easier for all citizens to register and vote, not harder.”

Citing a Bloomberg aide, CBS News reports that the former New York Mayor signed off on the donation before quitting the scramble for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

The donation would be used to partner civic groups as well as hire field organizers to enhance voter registrations in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. It is also aimed at registering some 500,000 black voters, said Collective Future in a statement.

“There is a critical need for Black voter engagement across the country in the 2020 election and beyond and we are deeply grateful to Mike Bloomberg for his partnership and dedication to this critical cause,” Quentin James, president of The Collective, said in a statement.

“His significant financial contribution will propel our work to historic levels and we are hopeful that this game-changing investment will be supported and replicated by those who embrace the need to advance the Black community.”

At the time of exiting the scramble of the Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination following his dreadful show during Super Tuesday, Bloomberg spent over $570 million into advertising across the country, according to ad tracking by Kantar/Campaign Media analysis group, earning 31 pledged delegates in the process.

This meant he had spent about $18 million per delegate earned.

“I’m 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,” he said in his exit statement, subsequently backing Joe Bidden.

During his short stint in the race, Bloomberg struggled to get African Americans to endorse his candidature.

His likability among African-American Democratic voters was hit a crushing blow after congregants at the historic Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma turned their backs on the former New York City mayor.

When he took to the podium to address the Brown Chapel AME Church’s congregants, roughly 10 minutes into his speech, several congregants rose from their seats and silently turned away from him.