Bloomberg enters 2020 presidential race with a record ad blitz

Micheal Bloomberg, the eighth richest American, became on Sunday the 18th candidate running for the Democratic presidential ticket to take on Donald Trump in 2020.

“We cannot afford four more years of President Trump’s reckless and unethical actions,” Bloomberg wrote in an announcement on his campaign website. “He represents an existential threat to our country and our values. If he wins another term in office, we may never recover from the damage.”

Bloomberg joins a large field of candidates that started with more than 20. It shrank somewhat as candidates dropped out, failing to keep up with the rest in raising money or in polls. But the numbers rose in recent days with former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and, now, Bloomberg pumping in.

Bloomberg had been toying with running for the ticket earlier, but had strayed away. But as questions continued to be raised about the ability of those in the fray to take on Trump, he changed his mind.

Bloomberg has planned a week-long ad blitz worth $33 million to start making up for the lost time, starting Monday. That is a record for the amount of money ever spent by a presidential candidate in seven days.