Michael Bloomberg Registers As Democrat Amid Presidential Buzz

NEW YORK — Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has rejoined the Democratic Party amid reports that he's considering a run for president. Bloomberg — who was a Republican for about half his tenure in City Hall — said he re-registered as a Democrat Wednesday "because we need Democrats to provide the checks and balance our nation so badly needs."

"At key points in U.S. history, one of the two parties has served as a bulwark against those who threaten our Constitution," Bloomberg said in an early-morning Instagram post with a photo of a New York State voter registration form.

The billionaire's formal party switch follows reports that he's plotting a Democratic bid for the White House in 2020. A successful campaign would make him the first former mayor elected to higher office in more than a century.

While Bloomberg said he'd been a Democrat for most of his life, he won two mayoral elections as a Republian before declaring himself an independent in 2007. He reportedly considered presidential runs in 2008, 2012 and 2016 but did not enter those races.

Bloomberg's Instagram post referred to his speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, in which he urged unification "around the candidate who can defeat a dangerous demagogue" — Hillary Clinton — despite reportedly toying with an independent campaign against her and Donald Trump.

Bloomberg would be a more centrist candidate than other Democratic presidential contenders. While he's advocated for immigration reform and action to address climate change, the financial services magnate questioned the #MeToo movement and stood behind the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policing tactics in an interview last month with The New York Times. He's also reportedly raised money for Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican facing a Democratic challenge this year from Liuba Grechen Shirley.

But a longtime Bloomberg political aide argued to BuzzFeed News that the former mayor could prove an attractive, if "boring," choice for voters.

"Elections are about swings," Kevin Sheekey told BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith. "About time we swing to boring with someone who can rise above the fray to chart a path forward toward greater national unity and mutual understanding."

(Lead image: Michael Bloomberg is pictured in Sun Valley, Idaho in July 2018. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)