WASHINGTON _ Michael Bloomberg's presidential campaign has hired more than 200 staffers to work in 21 states, aides told McClatchy, providing the New York billionaire with the largest organization after the early voting states of any 2020 Democratic candidate.
Bloomberg, a late entrant into the White House race, finalized a fleet of state leadership hires this week, signing on a cadre of former campaign hands to Barack Obama, past presidential and gubernatorial races and national and state party committees.
It means Bloomberg, who is skipping the first four nominating contests in February, now has teams in nine of the 14 Super Tuesday states that vote on March 3, as well as aides in four states that vote in April. The campaign's beefed up ground game supplement the north of $80 million the former New York City mayor has already spent on TV ads through this week.
"We can have a large and concurrent conversation with the American people in 29 or 30 contests all at once while our opponents are stuck talking to a narrow portion of the electorate in the early states," said Dan Kanninen, a veteran Democratic operative directing Bloomberg's effort in the states. "It means we're out of the sandbox. ... While we're late to the contest overall, we're going to be early to the March states."
Bloomberg, who has tapped into his massive personal wealth to fund his campaign, is hiring staff in the following states: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, which all vote on Super Tuesday; Michigan, Missouri and Mississippi, which vote a week later on March 10; Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio, which vote on March 17 and Georgia, which votes March 24.
Additionally, Bloomberg has already assigned staff to the general election battleground state of Wisconsin, the sole primary on April 7, as well as the late April contests of Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania.
Planned Bloomberg campaign office projections include 13 in Pennsylvania, 12 in Ohio, nine in Michigan, seven in Wisconsin and five in Tennessee, according to a partial list shared first with McClatchy.
The moves are a reflection of the political talent that can still be drawn to a longshot, unorthodox presidential bid if its largely unconstrained financially. The strategy is to plant deep roots in places that are not only vital in a prolonged primary slog, but in a general election against President Donald Trump.
"So many of the most critical states in the fall are in those March contest states," said Kanninen. "Donald Trump is not governing _ he's campaigning in all these places and Democrats aren't. When we get to these places there's relief that there's a Democrat there to take on Donald Trump."
To start, the initial 170 staff will be placed in the states, with the rest helmed in Bloomberg's New York headquarters. The team will only grow from there after the holidays.
In California, the largest delegate trove in the country, Kyle Layman, the former western states political director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will serve as a senior adviser. He'll be joined by Drew Godinich, another former DCCC aide who will run communications and strategic initiative director Christine Turner, who served on Obama's National Security Council.
Carla Brailey, a vice chair of the Texas Democratic Party, is heading up Bloomberg's team in the state with the second biggest delegate pool. Florida will be overseen by Brandon Davis, a former chief of staff at the Democratic National Committee who ran Andrew Gillum's unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2018. Davis will also serve in a senior advisory role out of New York.
In North Carolina, James Mitchell, a Charlotte city councilman and former president of the National League of Cities, will join Justin Vollmer, a Democratic organizer who worked on Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, as senior advisers.
Other Obama alumni turned Team Bloomberg include Colorado senior adviser Ray Rivera, who directed Obama's western caucus strategy, Maryland senior adviser Jason Waskey, who was Obama's 2012 state director, Maine senior adviser Michael Cuzzi, who was Obama's 2008 New Hampshire political director, Missouri state director Grant Campbell, who was Obama's director of advance, Ohio state director Aaron Pickrell, who was Obama's 2008 Ohio director and Virginia senior adviser Lise Clavel, Obama's 2012 Virginia director.
Democratic operative Michael Ceraso, who worked for Pete Buttieig's campaign earlier this year, said Bloomberg is attracting Obama-era talent because they are sober about the main task of this election.
"The current political environment isn't looking for hope and change. No, voters are placing a premium on beating the other team above everything else. Former Obama operatives understand this," said Ceraso. "Oh, and it doesn't hurt they can collect a huge check along the way."
Bloomberg also has leadership in the trio of states Democrats have become consumed with since Clinton lost them to Trump in 2016.
Pennsylvania will be guided by Kevin Kinross, a former campaign manager for Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Michael Berman, who has consulted for Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Michael Kurtz, Martin O'Malley's national finance director in 2016, will lead Bloomberg's Michigan effort. And in Wisconsin, Bloomberg has plucked Jorna Taylor, a former director of advance for Gov. Tony Evers, as his state director. Thad Nation, a former communications director for Gov. Jim Doyle, will also advise in a senior role.
These state-based staffers will partner with a national team that includes Kanninen and Obama battleground state director Mitch Stewart. Bloomberg is also beginning to pluck from already-defunct 2020 campaigns. Will Dubbs, who was Kamala Harris' state director in Iowa, will serve as a deputy director of states, along with Cassandra Henry, who comes from Beto O'Rourke's campaign.
Bloomberg aides argue that the flood of resources pouring into these largely neglected states hands the former mayor a more viable path to the nomination than most skeptics would allow.
"After the early states, It's one consecutive contest. Most campaigns drop in a couple weeks before frantically, without establishing authentic relationships," Kanninen said. "When you put a team on the ground for three months, talk to community leaders, clergy, business folks, you can advance your cause far more than just dropping in frantically."
Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have begun to hire more aggressively in states that vote in March, but not at the same level as Bloomberg.
Bloomberg is also betting that the first four contests of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina yield a muddled result with no clear frontrunner.
His unprecedented advertising blitz has quickly propelled him to an average of 5% in national polls since entering the race in late November, a number many candidates fail to meet after campaigning for nearly a year. The staffing expansion is the latest indication Bloomberg planning a more serious long-haul effort that bets on a delegate fight that extends well into the spring.
It's a bet that serious Democrats are increasingly unwilling to completely dismiss.
"Saying I've got 200 people in these other states says whoever comes out of the early states is going to have a pretty serious challenge on their hands in these other places," said Karen Finney, a spokesperson for Clinton's 2016 campaign. "What usually happens is, you send the Iowa people on to the Super Tuesday states. He's already there."
