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In 2016, Bloomberg reported spending nearly $10 million to successfully help reelect Toomey in his race against Democrat Katie McGinty. Independence USA ran TV ads in Philadelphias collar counties that drew attention to his support of gun control legislation, helping him win over critical moderate voters.

The fact that Bloomberg was willing to throw his money into it gave Toomey a talking point to appeal to suburban voters in Philly, and ultimately one of the reasons we lost is that he outperformed Donald Trump in the Philly suburbs, said Mike Mikus, McGintys former campaign manager. Im certain his hand in giving Mitch McConnell a majority in the Senate will be remembered by a lot of Democratic voters.

Bloomberg left the Republican Party in 2007 and registered as an independent. He voted for Barack Obama in 2008, an aide said, though he did not publicize it at the time. He wrote an op-ed in favor of Obama during his 2012 reelection campaign and campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016. In 2018, he changed his registration to Democrat.

Fetterman, who ran unsuccessfully in the 2016 Senate primary, said there is no appetite for the billionaires candidacy among Pennsylvania Democrats: Absolutely none that Ive encountered.

Over the weekend, liberal activists circulated a clip of Bloomberg speaking at the 2004 Republican National Convention in support of Bush.

I want to thank President Bush for supporting New York City and changing the Homeland Security funding formula and for leading the global war on terrorism, he said at the convention. The president deserves our support. We are here to support him. And I am here to support him.

Rebecca Katz, a New York-based consultant to progressive candidates, said the video is important context to understand Bloomberg.

Bloombergs presidential campaign is only telling one side of the story. For years, he helped the New York state GOP hold on to their Republican majority. And while hed prefer Democrats remember his 2016 convention speech, he also spoke at the RNC for George W. Bush in 2004, she said. The only thing thats been consistent about his party affiliation is that it has always been about benefiting Michael Bloomberg."

Sally Goldenberg contributed to this report.

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'The hubris is unbelievable': Dems seethe over Bloomberg GOP donations - POLITICO