mike bloomberg comes into election day having donated more than $65 million <u+2014> overwhelmingly to issue campaigns for local gun control and soda tax measures, but also to 18 individual candidates. | getty with little fanfare, the former new york mayor has emerged as one of the election<u+2019>s top donors. by edward-isaac dovere 11/07/16 05:14 am est mike bloomberg is quietly finishing as one of the biggest spenders of the 2016 cycle. the former new york city mayor, who<u+2019>s adamant about his political independence and gives to republicans and democrats who align with positions he wants, comes into election day having donated more than $65 million <u+2014> overwhelmingly to issue campaigns for local gun control and soda tax measures, but also to 18 individual candidates. story continued below that<u+2019>s all happened with very little public presence <u+2014> and doesn<u+2019>t include a single dollar toward the presidential race <u+2014> putting bloomberg just behind tom steyer in total federal contributions and well ahead of what gop megadonor sheldon adelson has put into white house, senate and house races this year. steyer<u+2019>s giving is all focused on the environment. adelson<u+2019>s goes across the republican spectrum, but with a special tilt toward fellow right-wingers on israel policy. the koch brothers have built a massive network with almost $1 billion in spending this cycle that often comes in to reshape key races in pursuit of republican wins for conservative, libertarian-leaning causes. bloomberg backs a mix of republican and democrats, has become more focused on referenda and his operation is contained to a small team of advisers who<u+2019>ve stayed in his orbit from his days in city hall. <u+201c>no one in the country operates this way,<u+201d> said howard wolfson, who runs the effort along with longtime political guru kevin sheekey. bloomberg consciously made his donald trump-slicing speech at the democratic convention in july his final statement in the white house campaign, opting against giving money to already well-funded super pacs or television appearances to reinforce the message. by seung min kim and burgess everett aides point out that other than the short speech bloomberg made as the host mayor during the 2004 gop convention and his endorsement of barack obama via op-ed in 2012 <u+2014> and, of course, taking yet another look at running for president himself this year <u+2014> he has mostly avoided getting directly involved in campaigning. <u+201c>this is the most aggressive he has ever been for any presidential candidate <u+2014> he felt that strongly about this election,<u+201d> wolfson said. <u+201c>when you speak rarely, it carries more power, and that applied here. the convention speech was most effective standing on its own.<u+201d> bloomberg backed six senate candidates and six house candidates, including some personal friends like arizona sen. john mccain and new york rep. dan donovan. but the real money in federal races came not from maxing out under federal giving limits or hosting fundraisers <u+2014> as he also did for illinois sen. mark kirk, california senate candidate kamala harris and massachusetts rep. seth moulton <u+2014> but from pac spending around gun control. bloomberg<u+2019>s independence usa pac put $6 million in ads behind pennsylvania sen. pat toomey for his leadership on gun control legislation after the newtown shooting and punished new hampshire sen. kelly ayotte for voting against it with $8.5 million in ads backing her opponent, gov. maggie hassan <u+2014> while bloomberg donated another $1 million to planned parenthood votes to further boost hassan. that kind of spending can drive people in both parties nuts. as bloomberg spoke in philadelphia that night at the convention, calling trump <u+201c>a con<u+201d> and <u+201c>a dangerous demagogue,<u+201d> some democrats in the wells fargo center were grumbling about how he could be standing there when he was supporting the republican candidate in that very state when they argue a democratic majority would be better for gun control overall. but bloomberg said he<u+2019>d help people who were with him on background checks -- like toomey -- and punish the people who were against him. that<u+2019>s effective in its own way, said josh holmes, a former chief of staff to senate majority leader mitch mcconnell (r-ky.) who<u+2019>s now the president and founding partner of calvalry llc and is a major player in this year<u+2019>s battle for senate control. <u+201c>if you<u+2019>re going to posture as though somebody<u+2019>s going to pay a price by taking a vote for or against an issue that you care about, then you follow up on it, or you don<u+2019>t. but if you don<u+2019>t, people won<u+2019>t take you seriously,<u+201d> said holmes, adding that he wished bloomberg might think more about the 80-some percent of issues the new yorker probably agreed with ayotte on, but knew that wasn<u+2019>t going to happen. elsewhere, bloomberg gave $250,000 each to the races of oregon. gov. kate brown, washington gov. jay inslee and north carolina gubernatorial candidate roy cooper, and hosted a fundraiser for rhode island gov. gina raimondo. he also dropped $250,000 into the pennsylvania attorney general campaign of josh shapiro and $50,000 into joe torsella<u+2019>s pennsylvania state treasurer campaign. by kenneth p. vogel and hadas gold but the real money came in down-ballot referenda pushes. <u+201c>he takes a different approach,<u+201d> said wolfson. <u+201c>first, no partisan boundaries and he doesn't believe someone has to agree with him on every issue; second, he is not going to pour in money where there is already an ocean of money engulfing a race. he targets the dollars more narrowly, where his spending is going to have a tangible and hopefully decisive impact.<u+201d> for instance, bloomberg gave $1.3 million to education initiatives focused on expanding charter schools in massachusetts, louisiana and california. between spending by everytown for gun safety, which bloomberg founded and largely funds, and money given directly, $25 million went to state gun control measures in nevada, maine and washington state. pursuing the issue even though his own mayoral ban on large drink sizes was later struck down by a court in new york, bloomberg has already spent $18 million dollars on the soda tax issue (aides say he may hit $20 million by tuesday), promoting a soda tax in oakland, calif. and san francisco that<u+2019>s included running what his team calls a comprehensive media plan and direct contributions to the committees. separately, he<u+2019>s put $1.6 million supporting the philadelphia soda tax effort, $1 million into television and digital ads to support the cook county, ill. effort and made a $200,000 contribution to healthier colorado, a 501c4 that<u+2019>s involved in the effort there. bloomberg<u+2019>s fortune is estimated to be upward of $40 billion. having that kind of cash to draw on and no future political ambitions to worry about (ever since he nixed this year<u+2019>s independent white house run) gives him a unique freedom. <u+201c>bloomberg picks his targets wisely and executes,<u+201d> holmes said. <u+201c>they don<u+2019>t spend a lot of time wringing their hands in the press.<u+201d> by michael grunwald by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz
bloomberg<u+2019>s 2016 tally: $65 million and counting - politico
edward-isaac dovere seung min kim burgess everett kenneth p. vogel hadas gold michael grunwald