20 Democrats who are likely to run in 2020

20. Michael Bloomberg

Former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg is no stranger to this sort of list. In earlier years, he’s tossed around the idea of running for office as an independent. Now, some reports state that Bloomberg might be angling for the Democratic nomination in 2020.

What’s the evidence? In the midterm elections, the wealthy Bloomberg put an estimated $80 million towards Democratic candidates. His goal was to get as many Democrats as possible elected. And, with Democrats now set to take control of the House of Representatives in January, this is the sort of involvement that could make for good stump speech material. If nothing else, this gets his name out there and shows him as a party loyalist of sorts.

This all may even make him more interesting to independent and undecided voters. After all, Bloomberg has previously mentioned running outside of the party system. With an independent like Bernie Sanders getting decently close to the nomination in 2016, it’s not an entirely off-kilter proposition.

Then again, there are some significant hurdles in Bloomberg’s path. He’s the sort of ridiculously wealthy executive type that could become very unpopular with younger voters. Bloomberg also has a few significant views that skew more towards the right than left, politically speaking. Naturally enough, he’s more in favor of giving big companies tax breaks and dismantling some financial regulations.

Neither has Bloomberg shown much of an appetite for cutthroat politics, despite what look like clear designs on the White House right now. Plus, at 76, he’s also one of the oldest people on this list. It could be that Michael Bloomberg’s drive won’t be up for a punishing election season.