Michael Bloomberg making more stops in NC, including Raleigh

Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg plans to make Raleigh and Fayetteville two of his first New Year’s destinations.

The former New York mayor is opening field offices in both cities on Friday while visiting North Carolina, according to an email the campaign sent to the NC Insider. Bloomberg’s Raleigh office will be located on Davie Street.

The Democrat plans to meet with voters, staff and supporters in both cities; as well as military families and veterans in downtown Fayetteville. The downtown Raleigh event will be open to the public with Bloomberg scheduled to speak at noon at the new office. The campaign had not released a more specific location on Davie Street as of late Tuesday.

This is Bloomberg’s second visit as a candidate to the state. He went to Charlotte on Dec. 15 where he opened his first field office in the country. Since then Bloomberg’s campaign has quadrupled its North Carolina staff, hiring more than 80 people.

Bloomberg’s strategy to win the 2020 election is to focus on states like North Carolina that vote on March 3 or later, the Charlotte Observer previously reported. He is currently fifth in the polls for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to a polling average from RealClearPolitics.

Starting New Year’s Day, Bloomberg will be airing ads on TV stations in all North Carolina markets, from Asheville to the coast, according to Federal Communications Commission records.

FCC records show the campaign has spent a total of $335,000 on four stations serving the Triangle and Fayetteville, along with hundreds of thousands more on stations in the Triad, Charlotte, Asheville, Greenville and Wilmington.

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This story was originally published January 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM.