Michael Bloomberg

Michael Rubens Bloomberg is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001, and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013. He was a lifelong Democrat until 2001, when he switched to the Republican Party to run for mayor, and later becoming an Independent in 2007. Bloomberg is the most recent mayor of New York City to serve as a Republican or Independent. In 2018, he rejoined the Democratic Party, after which he ran an unsuccessful campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president of the United States. Bloomberg is a centibillionaire, worth $109.4 billion as of March 2026, making him the 18th richest person in the world.

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Project 50, a political group founded by Illinois abortion-rights veterans including former state Sen. Heather Steans and ex-HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, is working to replicate Illinois' decades-old shift toward abortion access by targeting state legislative races in conservative states with bans or heavy restrictions. After early setbacks in Arizona, the group refocused on culturally conservative states in 2023, winning three races in its first three years and four more in 2025, including in Virginia. It has raised over $3.7 million from donors such as Michael Bloomberg and Gov. JB Pritzker. Organizers say the strategy targets voters uneasy with total abortion bans, not broad support for unrestricted access. Abortion-rights opponents call its electoral impact limited so far.

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POLITICO

Michael Bloomberg

Emerging News

Illinois Activists Export Abortion-Rights Strategy to Red States

Illinois Activists Export Abortion-Rights Strategy to Red States

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Sentiment