Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb on Wednesday endorsed self-funded billionaire Mike Bloomberg — a fellow former mayor — in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Webb served three terms, from 1991 to 2003, and was the city’s first black mayor. A longtime ally of the Clintons, he in the last year to three presidential candidates — former Vice President Joe Biden, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. But Colorado’s two entrants have since dropped out, mostly recently Bennet on Tuesday night after performing poorly in the New Hampshire primary.
Webb’s backing of Bloomberg follows poor showings by Biden in the early contests so far.
“As a former three-term mayor myself, I am endorsing Mike Bloomberg based on his record of bringing people together to get things done as mayor of New York City,” Webb said in a statement. “As Donald Trump tries to divide our country through hate, I have been impressed by Mike’s commitment to Black America and to building bridges to communities across the United States. We need Mike to bring sanity, reason and unity back to the White House.”
Webb’s endorsement comes amid by Bloomberg about New York City police’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy. Bloomberg apologized for that policy last November, just before entering the presidential race.
Bloomberg also is naming Webb as one of three co-chairs of his Mike for Black America National Leadership Council, alongside the current mayors of San Francisco and Little Rock, Arkansas.
His campaign has been heavily targeting advertising at Colorado and other Super Tuesday states in the last two months, and he has drawn endorsements from several Colorado business leaders and politicians. The Colorado primary is March 3, and mail ballots were sent to voters this week.
