Bloomberg's Tulsa visit: 'This country needs leadership'

TULSA — During a visit to Tulsa earlier this year, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he didn't know for sure whether he'd run for president, then spelled out why if he did, he would run as a Democrat.

In January,  he visited Tulsa to present the Greenwood Art Project with a million dollars it won from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge.

He told KRMG at the time he was chagrined at not knowing about the Tulsa race massacre.

“I'm 76 years old,  I've read an enormous number of history books, and I had never heard about this until a few days ago when they said 'you're going to Tulsa and here's what we're going to do,'” Bloomberg said at the time.

The discussion quickly turned to presidential politics, and KRMG asked directly if he planned to run - and whether he'd run as a Democrat.

“I've said I'd think about it,” was his initial reaction.

Then he addressed the topic of political party affiliation - Mr. Bloomberg served as New York City Mayor as both a Republican and an Independent, after being a lifelong Democrat until 2001.

He decided in October of 2018, a few months before our interview, to return to his roots, and once again registered as a Democrat - because of lessons learned from prior presidential contests.

“What we found the last time was you cannot run as an Independent because the electoral college requirement that you have a majority. I obviously would not be able to get the Republican nomination,” he said.

And while at the time, he wasn't ready to confirm his bid - he was clearly thinking along the lines of national office.

“This country needs leadership,” he told KRMG. “This country needs people that can understand we're in this together, we have to have an economy. (We're) only going to grow in an evolutionary way. If you just start revolutionary things they're good for press conferences and rallies, but it doesn't get anything done. The world is changing very rapidly. We are going to be left behind unless we face some of the issues, and really get the... build the kind of future that we want for our kids.”

Bloomberg officially entered the race Sunday, launching a nationwide media campaign targeting a number of battleground states.