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Michael Bloomberg decides against presidential run in 2020

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced he won’t run for president in 2020, removing a prominent name from an already crowded field of candidates looking to challenge Donald Trump.

FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2019, file photo, Michael Bloomberg speaks to workers during a tour of the WH Bagshaw Company, a pin and precision component manufacturer, in Nashua, N.H. Bloomberg is not running for president. The 77-year-old former New York City mayor, one of the richest men of the world, announced his decision not to join the crowded Democratic field in a Bloomberg News editorial on Tuesday, March 5, 2019.
FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2019, file photo, Michael Bloomberg speaks to workers during a tour of the WH Bagshaw Company, a pin and precision component manufacturer, in Nashua, N.H. Bloomberg is not running for president. The 77-year-old former New York City mayor, one of the richest men of the world, announced his decision not to join the crowded Democratic field in a Bloomberg News editorial on Tuesday, March 5, 2019.Read moreElise Amendola / AP

(Bloomberg) — Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced he won’t run for president in 2020, removing a prominent name from an already crowded field of candidates looking to challenge Donald Trump.

Bloomberg, 77, said he would put his resources into many of the initiatives he’s already involved in, including helping the country transition to renewable energy.

“It’s essential that we nominate a Democrat who will be in the strongest position to defeat Donald Trump and bring our country back together,’’ Bloomberg said in an op-ed published by Bloomberg Opinion. “We cannot allow the primary process to drag the party to an extreme that would diminish our chances in the general election and translate into ‘Four More Years.’ ”

Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

The former three-term mayor had said he was seriously considering a bid for the Democratic nomination after opting not to run an independent in 2016. He had signaled the key factors in his decision were whether he could win and whether he could have more of an impact continuing with his philanthropic pursuits.

Bloomberg has argued the country needs a competent and pragmatic chief executive with his kind of business and government experience who can get big things done, drawing an explicit contrast with Trump. He’s long supported issues popular among many Democrats, including gun control and mitigating climate change, and he spent more than $110 million in the 2018 congressional elections to help elect Democrats, according to figures provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

But Bloomberg has questioned positions popular with the party’s progressive wing such as Medicare-for-all and taxing the super-wealthy. He also faced questions about why a former Republican with a past career on Wall Street should be the standard bearer for a party that increasingly relies on a young, diverse base that is often skeptical of big business.

The former mayor had considered running for president as an independent in 2016. He ultimately decided a candidate outside the two major parties couldn’t win and endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton. He’s joined other Democrats in criticizing former Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz for contemplating an independent bid in 2020, saying he would split the vote and likely help reelect Trump.