Bloomberg Campaign Reportedly Dangled VP Slot in Return for Andrew Yang’s Endorsement

Photo credits: Joe Raedle, Getty Images (Bloomberg); Justin Sullivan, Getty Images (Yang).

The campaign of self-funding billionaire Michael Bloomberg reportedly dangled a possible vice-presidential slot to former 2020 candidate Andrew Yang in an effort to get his endorsement for the Democratic primary campaign.

According to a new report in the Wall Street Journal, the media tycoon’s camp sought out the entrepreneur, who ran an unconventional and surprisingly vocal grassroots campaign, to discuss ways that he and Bloomberg might work together throughout the rest of the 2020 campaign. Yang, who recently became a CNN contributor, did not respond the offer, per the Journal.

Yang did not comment for the article, and Bloomberg’s team played down the outreach, with a senior Bloomberg aide telling the Journal: “Mr. Yang wasn’t being seriously considered to be the former mayor’s running mate if he secured the nomination.”

In previous comments, Yang had expressed deep skepticism about Bloomberg’s strategy of skipping the first four Democratic primary voting states and relying almost exclusively on a massive wave of campaign ads.

“It’s going to be very, very difficult for him to jump in right now and somehow replace the thousands of conversations many of the candidates have had with voters,” Yang has said. “There are limits to what money can do.”