Bloomberg extends 150-year streak of New York City mayors failing to achieve higher office

Michael Bloomberg.
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The Curses of the Bambino and the Billy Goat have nothing on this.

Now that billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, the streak of New York City mayors failing to win higher office continues. It's been 152 years since the position wasn't the capstone of a political career.

See more

Bloomberg, current New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Bloomberg's predecessor Rudy Giuliani have all tried and failed to win the presidency this century, causing some observers to point out that one seemingly has a better chance at the Oval Office if they're coming from South Bend, Indiana, than the Big Apple.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Bloomberg, de Blasio, and Giuliani aren't alone. John Lindsay unsuccessfully ran for the White House in 1972, and Ed Koch took his shot at the New York governor's race in 1982, which he ultimately lost to Mario Cuomo. Koch actually beat Cuomo in the 1977 mayoral election, so in retrospect that defeat may have been just what Cuomo needed to make it to Albany five years later.

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.