Mike Bloomberg just made a big move

When the news broke this morning that Mike Bloomberg was shutting down what’s left of his 2020 presidential campaign, it set off a good amount of confusion. Some observers thought it meant that Bloomberg was bailing on his promise to help fund the 2020 Democratic nominee.

It turns out that’s not the case at all. Up until today, much of Mike Bloomberg’s 2020 campaign infrastructure was still in place, for no remaining purpose. Now Bloomberg is officially shutting down his campaign. It had $18 million left on hand, so he’s transferring that directly to the Democratic National Committee, thus allowing the DNC to immediately begin using that money in 2020 races across the nation.

As Bloomberg put it in a statement, “This race is too important to have many competing groups with good intentions but that are not coordinated and united in strategy and execution.” Joe Biden’s campaign is supporting the move, with his Deputy Campaign Manager Kate Bedingfield tweeting this in response to the news: “We welcome the announcement of Mayor Bloomberg’s extraordinary investment to ensure that happens.”

This development appears to be independent of Mike Bloomberg’s promise to run general election ads in support of the 2020 Democratic nominee. Bloomberg can write a check for those ads at any time. Today’s move was all about shifting the remaining resources from Bloomberg’s defunct campaign into the hands of Democratic entities that can put them to immediate use. For those wondering, Bloomberg is also donating $40 million to fight the coronavirus.