Mike Bloomberg Donates $500K To Orlando Hispanic Group To Help Biden

Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg is donating $500,000 to an Orlando-based Hispanic group, part of his $100 million pledge to back Democrat Joe Biden against President Trump in Florida.

Bloomberg announced his donation Tuesday to Votar Es Poder PAC, a political committee affiliated with the group Poder Latinx.

The group has made 2.5 million phone calls and text conversations with voters and registered over 33,200 Hispanic voters in Florida before the pandemic and it hopes to reach 5 million more voters by Election Day.

Esteban Garces, the PAC’s treasurer, said they were grateful for Bloomberg’s support and will use the funding to increase its canvassing this month.

“We can deepen our Latinx outreach and increase our final ground door-knocking push in the critical central Florida area,” Garces said.

Garces said that as the coronavirus pandemic spread, “so did the fears of infection, particularly in homes of Latinos who became disproportionately impacted, as jobs on the frontlines made them more susceptible to illness and death. COVID-19 also exposed the systemic inequity of health care, jobs and wages, and education for their children, motivating Latinos to demand change.”

In a statement, Bloomberg said, “With Florida voters across the state already receiving their ballots –and with Florida potentially playing a decisive role in the election – direct voter outreach in support of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is crucial right now."

“I’m supporting Votar Es Poder PAC’s efforts to help get this country back on track by turning out the vote for Joe and Kamala in Central Florida,” he said.

Bloomberg, who made one of his last campaign appearances in Orlando before dropping out of the Democratic presidential race in early March, pledged in September to fund ads and get-out-the-vote efforts in Florida.

His Independence USA PAC launched its first ad, “Economy,” statewide on Sept. 30. The ad touts Biden as a “president for the middle class.”

Bloomberg has also donated $16 million to a fund paying the fines and fees of ex-felons in Florida, allowing them to vote under the provisions of Amendment 4. A law passed by the Legislature in 2019, backed up by an appeals court ruling last month, restricted the restoration of voting rights to ex-felons until any fines and fees included as part of their sentences were paid.

Recent polls have shown Florida is too close to call, though a Siena College/The New York Times Upshot poll from Oct. 1 showed Biden with a 5-point lead over Trump.

Election Day is Nov. 3, but mail-in voting has already begun in the state. Early voting begins Oct. 19.

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