News & Politics

Mike Bloomberg Says He Looks Forward to Calling DC’s Mayor “Governor Bowser”

Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at the ​US Conference of Mayors' Winter Meeting, Wednesday, January 22, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

The United States Conference of Mayors’ Winter Meeting is taking place in DC this year, and presidential candidate and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg spoke at the event Wednesday. After telling the crowd “The truth is, I’m hoping to give a speech in DC next year,” Bloomberg said DC’s future is “brighter than ever” and credited “my good friend Mayor Muriel Bowser. She is doing a terrific job, and I hope that someday soon we’ll be calling her ‘Governor Bowser.'”

You can watch those remarks here.

Bloomberg went on to endorse DC statehood, a position the Washington Post reports he’d previously been unclear about. Bloomberg has aggressively pursued support from US mayors for his presidential run, and walked on to “thunderous applause, and dozens of mayors yanking out their phones to take bad photos of him from 30 feet away,” according to a tweet from StateScoop tech editor Benjamin Freed, who was at the event. Bowser has not yet endorsed any of the Democrats in the race, but last year she called Bloomberg “An important voice” who “doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk.”

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Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.