Judge Judy releases ad backing Bloomberg for president
The verdict is in. Judy Sheindlin, best known as Judge Judy, is officially endorsing former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for president and has cut an advertisement for his campaign.
The endorsement marks Sheindlin's first of a presidential candidate and comes after the famed judge of daytime television announced her support for Bloomberg in October, before he launched his campaign for president and after he vowed to sit out the race.
"I like to say you can judge someone's character by what they've done. Mike Bloomberg has done amazing things and will be a truly great president," Sheindlin says in the 30-second ad. "No one comes close to Mike Bloomberg's executive achievement, government experience and impactful philanthropy. His steady leadership will unite our country and bring us through these very challenging times."
Sheindlin, 77, served as the supervising judge of Manhattan Family Court before launching a television career with the Emmy-award winning show "Judge Judy," which debuted in 1996. A 2016 survey found that 10% of college graduates believe Sheindlin is on the U.S. Supreme Court.
In an op-ed for USA Today in October, more than a month before Bloomberg joined the field of 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls, Sheindlin lauded Bloomberg for his pragmatism and wrote he would be the "best chance to bring America together again and begin the long national process of healing."
"We're hopelessly divided, and a bitterly divided family cannot thrive," she wrote then. "The only way we can begin to come together again, I said, is if Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, becomes our next president."
The op-ed marked Sheindlin's first foray into politics in 50 years, she said, and followed comments from Bloomberg in March 2019 that he would not make a run for the White House in 2020. But the former New York City mayor reversed course in November, launching his presidential campaign with a multimillion-dollar ad blitz.
The billionaire is self-funding his campaign.
