Bloomberg Visits Capitol Hill to Woo Democratic Lawmakers

(Bloomberg) -- Michael Bloomberg is meeting with groups of Democrats in Congress on Capitol Hill on Thursday seeking support for his fledgling 2020 presidential campaign.

The former New York mayor plans to meet separately with BOLD PAC, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; ASPIRE PAC, the political arm of Asian American and Pacific Islander members of Congress; the New Democrat Coalition of centrist Democrats and the co-chairs of the Blue Dog Coalition of “fiscally responsible” Democrats.

The New Democrat group sent a letter to every Democratic presidential candidate to meet with them.

BOLD PAC said in a statement that the meeting focused on issues facing Latinos such as comprehensive immigration reform, as well as “increasing access to affordable health care, tackling the issue of gun violence and creating an inclusive economy.”

Bloomberg is self-funding his campaign, so the purpose of the meetings is relationship building and to get to know individual members, according to a person familiar with one of the groups.

Bloomberg is also expected to attend a private reception in San Francisco on Thursday evening that will include Silicon Valley technology billionaires, Recode reported and the campaign confirmed.

Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

--With assistance from Billy House and Erik Wasson.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Craig Gordon

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