Michael Bloomberg flops in $100M bid to deliver Florida, Ohio, Texas for Joe Biden

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg may be the 2020 election’s biggest loser financially speaking after falling short in his $100 million quest to deliver three key states for Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden.

Mr. Bloomberg said in September that he would sink as much as $100 million into moving Florida into the Biden column, and later made a reported $15 million advertising buy in Texas and Ohio, only to see President Trump capture all three states in Tuesday’s balloting.

Politicos were quick to draw attention to the lack of return on the former New York mayor’s investment.

Republican activist Scott Pressler tweeted, “Michael Bloomberg couldn’t buy Florida,” while RealClear Politics president Tom Bevan said, “With the amount of money he spent in the last year, Bloomberg could have bought the New York Islanders instead of running around embarrassing himself.”

All three states were called Tuesday night for Mr. Trump, who actually surpassed his 2016 winning percentage in Florida.

The Republican president held 51.3% of the vote versus 47.9% for the Democrat Biden with 96% of the vote counted, according to the Associated Press. Four years ago, Mr. Trump won Florida in a squeaker with 49% of the vote.

Mr. Trump enjoyed a 53.4% to 45.2% advantage in Ohio with 94% of the estimated vote counted, also an improvement on his 51.7% share of the balloting in 2016.

In Texas, Mr. Biden was on track to outperform Democrat Hillary Clinton, taking 46.3% with 84% of the vote counted, while Mr. Trump held nearly the same percentage as he did four years ago with 52.3%.

Mr. Bloomberg gave $106 million to outside spending groups, making him the second-highest donor of the 2020 election, a figure that does not include any contributions to so-called dark money groups that are not required to disclose their donors, according to the latest figures from OpenSecrets.

Mike Bloomberg takes big losses after spending over $100 million in Florida, Ohio and Texas https://t.co/A1ip9KjJPI

— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) November 4, 2020

It was an expensive election cycle for Mr. Bloomberg, who also sunk $1 billion into his unsuccessful 2020 Democratic presidential primary run. His net worth has been estimated at $54 billion.

That said, Mr. Bloomberg’s massive outlay forced the Trump campaign to divert funding from other priorities to shore up states that should have been gimmes, Bloomberg adviser Kevin Sheekey told CNBC.

“Our goal was to make Trump fight for a state he was taking for granted and draw resources from blue-wall states, allowing Joe Biden to become more competitive in those states,” Mr. Sheekey said. “To make Trump fight like hell in Florida.”