Bloomberg giving $250K to Gillum in Florida governor’s race

Add another billionaire to Andrew Gillum’s growing list of well-heeled financial backers.

As he heads to South Florida to appear with Parkland parents, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is cutting a $250,000 check to the Democratic gubernatorial nominee’s political committee. Following an event Friday in Coral Springs on behalf of his Everytown for Gun Safety, the possible 2020 presidential candidate is scheduled to appear Saturday in West Palm Beach at a Democratic party fundraiser and then with Gillum Sunday at a Century Village Jewish center in Pembroke Pines.

Bloomberg has worked with Gillum in the past, following his election as Tallahassee mayor in 2014.

“We worked closely with him as Mayor and he was completely fearless in taking on the NRA,” said Marc La Vorgna, a Bloomberg spokesman. “He represents the kind of political courage Florida needs in the statehouse.”

Bloomberg, a 76-year-old independent who recently acknowledged interest in running against President Donald Trump in 2020 as a Democrat, becomes the latest billionaire to throw his weight behind Gillum. The Tallahassee mayor earned the support of Democratic booster George Soros early on in the primary race and then Tom Steyer, whose political organizations are pushing more than $5 milion behind the Democratic nominee’s general election campaign.

Gillum has also received six-figure donations from Coral Gables philanthropist Barbara Stiefel, hedge fund manager Donald Sussman and independent healthcare magnate Mike Fernandez.

Bloomberg has said he’ll spend $80 million in the mid-term elections backing Democratic candidates. Last week, he gave $20 million to the Democratic US Senate super PAC. Bloomberg’s $250,000 donation to Gillum is separate from the $250,000 that Everytown for Gun Safety gave Gillum one week ago.