BURLINGTON — Billionaire media mogul Mike Bloomberg touted his record as New York City’s mayor and said he believed he is the only candidate who can beat President Donald Trump during a Monday campaign event in Burlington.
Bloomberg said he could both defeat Trump and unite the country during a 20-minute speech during the event at Echo, the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain Monday afternoon.
Around 320 people attended the event, according to an estimate from Bloomberg state director Chris Di Mezzo.
Bloomberg is the second candidate to visit Burlington during the campaign. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper visited the city in March at an event hosted by VTDigger but has since dropped out of the race, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders held a large rally in Montpelier in May.
During a media availability after his speech, Bloomberg painted a sharp contrast between himself and Sanders, who has called for a revolution of the country’s political system.
“I think the country wants an evolution rather than a revolution,” he said. “The country likes an awful lot of what we have, they just don’t like the style. They’re not looking for big change, I don’t think, in anything other than management and how we conduct ourselves.”
As president, Bloomberg said he would fight gun violence, the opioid epidemic and climate change.
“If you are ready to clean out the Oval Office and get things done, then welcome to Bloomberg 2020,” he said.
Bloomberg announced his campaign in November. He has poured over $240 million into political advertising, much more than any other candidate. Bloomberg is not contesting the early nominating states and is instead focusing on states that vote later in the primary, like Vermont, which votes on Super Tuesday, March 3.
Bloomberg, who took the stage to U2’s “Beautiful Day,” said the country needed less partisanship, less division and less tweeting from the Oval Office.
“We need to do more than just win in November, we need to unite this country and bring this country together, and start to get big things done,” he said. “My whole career I’ve been a do-er and a problem solver.”
Bloomberg said he united New York City as mayor and reduced crime dramatically. He said the poverty rate in New York did not increase during his mayoralty despite the economic recession.
In a media availability after the event, Bloomberg defended his self-funding campaign, saying he was spending his money to defeat Donald Trump.
“I don’t take any money from anybody,” he said. “I didn’t for three elections in New York, I’m not going to do it for this one. You can say it’s only a dollar, a dollar, a dollar. It just sets an image and an attitude that I’m uncorruptible, that’s the way I governed for 12 years and that’s what I’m going to do for the next eight.”
Bloomberg said he has taken on Trump on tobacco, guns and the environment and won.
Asked about his longtime support for New York’s “stop & frisk” policing policy, Bloomberg said he believed it brought the murder rate down but the city had done too much of it.
“It probably saved 2,000 lives, but in the end, we were doing too much of it, when I realized that I cut 95% of it out and apologized,” he said.
After years of defending the policy, Bloomberg apologized for doing so just before announcing his presidential bid last year.
Andy Alling, a retiree who attended the event, said he was impressed by Bloomberg. He said he felt as if Bloomberg was telling the truth and had a record of getting things done.
“Personally, I’m one of hopefully many Americans who is absolutely fed up with Trump but not willing to go the Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren route,” he said. “Looking for someone to represent the middle of the road, which is where I am.”
Alena Farrell, another attendee, said she thought Bloomberg was honest and precise.
“He’s definitely a very good manager, his programs sound very reasonable, so I think he’s a great candidate for president of the United States,” she said.
Bloomberg started his visit with a discussion with City Councilor Joan Shannon, D-South District, and state Reps. Sam Young, D-Greensboro, and Dan Noyes, D-Wolcott, at Kestral Coffee Roasters on Maple Street Monday morning.
Shannon said the group talked about health care and Bloomberg’s lack of support of Medicare for All. The group also discussed “stop & frisk” policing in New York.
Bloomberg told local legislators that two top priorities if elected would be repealing the Hyde Amendment, which bars the use of federal funding for abortion, and rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, Shannon said.
Shannon, who supported Sanders in 2016, said she had not decided which Democrat she would support in the primary. She said beating Trump was her top priority.
“I’m really glad he came, regardless of whether you support him or you don’t want to support him,” she said. “I really appreciate that he’s taken the time to share his thoughts with Burlington and listen to ours, more importantly, and understand what our issues are here.”