Bloomberg volunteer event this past Sunday in Stamford.
Brett Broesder saw opportunity in the Democratic presidential field in the wake of Tuesday’s New Hampshire Democratic primary, in which several once-prominent candidates tanked, the three leading candidates were all clustered within six points of each other, no one captured more than 26 percent of the vote, and several campaigns died.
Broesder’s takeaway: “We have an open field. We have a great field of candidates. But Donald Trump is winning.”
Broesder offered that take during a morning-after interview on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program.
He came on air to update listeners on the campaign he’s working on in the quest to fill that opening: Democratic candidate Mike Bloomberg, the financial-information entrepreneur and former mayor of New York City.
While other campaigns focus on the upcoming Nevada, South Carolina, and Super Tuesday primary, Bloomberg, a self-funding billionaire candidate, has been able to air over $100 million of TV ads and open offices in states nationwide, including Connecticut, which doesn’t holds its presidential primary until April 28.
That means the Bloomberg camp has gotten off to a quicker start than competitor campaigns in the state. Bloomberg named Broesder, a 36-year-old former communications aide to Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch and Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, to head the Connecticut operation. Broesder also served as a consultant to the 2018 campaigns of now-Gov. Ned Lamont, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, and State Treasurer State Wooden.
Paul Bass Photo
Bloomberg Connecticut campaign communications chief Jordan Grice and Director Brett Broesder at WNHH.
The Bloomberg campaign has opened a headquarters in politically “purple” Milford (which voted for Trump in 2016 but also elects Democrats), with plans to open at least nine more offices in the state, Broesder reported. It has hired five employees with plans to hire “dozens” more in coming weeks. It has begun making local media buys and holding events like a canvas in Stamford that drew over 70 volunteers.
Many volunteers so far seem to be drawn to Bloomberg’s positions on guns (Bloomberg co-founded Mayors vs. Illegal Guns and contributed heavily to pro-gun-control candidates in the 2018 Congressional elections) and climate change (he donated $500 million to a “Beyond Carbon” campaign that has helped close 302 coal plants nationwide; he’s calling for making all buildings “zero-carbon” by 2025), as well as a general sense that he has the best chance to defeat President Trump, according to Broesder. Bloomberg has promised to spend as much as $1 billion against Trump, and has begun on that path.
Broesder said he was drawn to Bloomberg for similar reasons. Bloomberg has “the best story to tell” about growing up in a household where “his father never made $6,000 a year,” about being unemployed at 39 years old, then amassing a fortune by building a financial information company known for “Bloomberg boxes” offering valuable, proprietary instant information to investors.
“Mike is the one who gets under [Trump]‘s skin,” Broesder adding, alluding to tough commercials Bloomberg has been airing against the president.
Broesder, who grew up in Minnesota, first came to Connecticut work for the pro-charter school ConnCAN organization. Bloomberg has been a booster of charter schools. Broesder said he likes Bloomberg’s focus on improving “all” public schools, including charters, while holding them accountable.
Bloomberg has promised to spend heavily against Trump in the general election campaign no matter which candidate ends up winning the Democratic nomination. He has signed leases through November for offices in the battleground states of Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Florida, and Pennsylvania.
On “Dateline,” Broesder responded to some of the criticisms lobbed against the Bloomberg effort.
This week the top criticism has been of Bloomberg’s embrace of “stop and frisk” policing involving millions of stops of black and brown New Yorkers under his tenure as mayor. A federal judge eventually ordered the practice curtailed; this week Trump helped distribute online a damaging recording of Bloomberg speaking of the need to “throw them against a wall and frisk them.”
Broesder responded that Bloomberg has apologized for embracing stop and frisk. “If you want a president who doesn’t apologize — you have one in Donald Trump,” he said.
As New York’s mayor, Bloomberg oversaw a 40 percent reduction in adult incarceration and a 60 percent juvenile incarceration decline, Broesder added.
Asked about Bloomberg’s history as a Republican, Broesder noted that Bloomberg is now a registered Democrat who has put his money to support gun control and tackle climate change. As for concerns about a billionaire buying a nomination, Broesder spoke of Bloomberg’s modest upbringing, of how he paid his way through college, and how his business rise reflects “the American Dream.”
Click on the video to watch the full interview with Brett Broesder on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program.