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TheDraft Bloomberg movement is apolitical draft movement in theUnited States that launched in 2007[1]as an effort to convinceNew York CityMayorMichael Bloomberg to run forPresident of the United States as anindependent candidate in the2008 election.[2][3] The movement ended for that election cycle on February 28, 2008, when Bloomberg formally announced that he would not run for president.[4]
The movement relaunched in late 2010 as an effort to persuade Bloomberg to make a presidential bid and/or lead in the formation of a viablethird party in2012.[5][6][7] Eight years later, he eventuallyentered the2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries and lost, after winning only the territory ofAmerican Samoa, while missing the 15% threshold for proportional delegates in several states.
In January 2008, theIndependent Greens of Virginia launched the first state petition drive in the nation to put Michael Bloomberg on the ballot for president.[8]The party collected and submitted more than the minimum number of required petition signatures with Bloomberg's name to theVirginia State Board of Elections, prior to the Board's deadline, to put the party on the ballot for president in Virginia.[9] Despite these efforts, Bloomberg did not appear on the Virginia ballot in the 2008 election as a presidential candidate because, one day prior to the State's deadline for ballot submissions, he requested that the party remove his name.[10]
There had been speculation of drafting Bloomberg to run as a presidential candidate on theUnity08 ticket.[11]On January 10, 2008, the organization released a statement announcing that two of its co-founders,Doug Bailey andGerald Rafshoon, were leaving Unity08 and launching a national draft movement to entice Bloomberg to run as an independent candidate.[12][13]
Support for the movement came primarily fromindependent voters unhappy with the choices the two major parties were offering.Scott Adams, creator of the comic stripDilbert,[14] and entrepreneurMark Cuban[15] acknowledged the movement on their respectiveblogs and made favorable comments regarding a potential Bloomberg presidential campaign. Political consultantsDoug Bailey andGerald Rafshoon quit theUnity08 movement to work to draft Bloomberg.[13]
In October 2010, The Committee to Draft Michael Bloomberg announced it was relaunching the movement in hopes of persuading Bloomberg to lead in bringing together independents, members of theIndependence Party of America andGreens to form a viable third party.[6][7][16] The Draft Bloomberg Committee choose this approach as polls in October 2010 showed 58% of Americans want a third major party, and Bloomberg has stated that he does not intend to seek the presidency in 2012.[17]
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