Why RNC chair Reince Priebus would welcome a Michael Bloomberg run
If former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg ever formally announces an independent White House run, he'll have at least one person cheering his decision: Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus.
Priebus weighed in Wednesday on the possibility of a Bloomberg campaign on Fox News, calling it potentially "helpful" to Republicans in the long run.
"It is a blessing to the party," Priebus said. "Happy for him to grab a ticket and get on board."
Later that day, Priebus explained his thinking in an interview with CNN: "I don't really view it as a third-party [campaign]. I just view it as another Democrat...So you'll have two Democrats running and splitting their vote."
Bloomberg has "been fighting and pounding away at Republicans," according to Priebus.
"You know, to take all their guns away. He wants to tax Slurpees and sodas," he said, referring to Bloomberg's well-known fight against gun violence and his much-maligned tax of soda drinks. "I mean, the guy's a liberal Democrat."
Bloomberg, he said, would be expected to split the Democratic vote and allow Republicans to "compete in places like Connecticut and New Hampshire and Maine, places we used to win 20 years ago. We'll take it."
For his part, the former New York City mayor has said he would seriously consider jumping into the 2016 race under certain conditions, for instance, if Hillary seemed poised to lose the Democratic nomination. Bloomberg told the Financial Times that he found the level of discourse in the presidential race to be "distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to voters."
He is expected to announce a decision in March.