Bloomberg campaign manager Kevin Sheekey told CNN on Monday that both Democratic and Republican pollsters agree Trump will win Iowa, so Democrats should campaign elsewhere.

Bloomberg campaign manager Kevin Sheekey said that both Democratic and Republican pollsters agree that President Donald Trump will win Iowa, so Democrats should not focus as much attention on the state.
Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg 2020 CM: “We as Democrats spend a year living in Iowa… The thing that Democrats & Republican pollsters agree on is that Donald Trump is going to win Iowa. So we’ve thrown out a year of investment in a state that isn’t going to make a difference.” pic.twitter.com/hUO4EdOjiS
— The Hill (@thehill) January 14, 2020
Sheekey criticized the current Democratic model of heavy campaigning in Iowa. “We, as Democrats, spend a year living in Iowa, raising money around the country, moving people to Iowa, knocking on doors, getting to know those voters, and investing every single dollar we can raise around the country in Iowa,” he said. “The one thing the Democrat and Republican pollsters agree on is that Donald Trump is going to win Iowa.”
According to a FiveThirtyEight poll published on January 8, Trump leads against Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former Vice President Joe Biden, in the state.
Sheekey said that all the time and money invested in Iowa campaigns is a waste, because Trump will win.
“We’ve thrown out a year of investment in a state that isn’t going to make a difference in November,” he said. “We put ourselves at an enormous disadvantage to invest every dollar we can over a year into a state that ultimately is not going to make a difference in November.” Instead, he said Democrats should focus on Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. “Those are states that Donald Trump is campaigning in every single day,” Sheekey said.
Sheekey expanded on former New York Mayor and presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg’s CNN op-ed, where he wrote that Democrats should not begin their campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Bloomberg wrote that lack of diversity in Iowa and New Hampshire hurt candidates by leaving out voters. “The Democratic Party reflects America’s incredible diversity. But the first two voting states, Iowa and New Hampshire, are among the most homogenous in the nation,” he wrote. “[W]hat about African-American, Latino, Asian American, Pacific Islanders, and other voters in places like Detroit, Montgomery, Phoenix, and Houston? I’ve visited them all recently, and almost to a person, voters tell me the other campaigns have almost no presence in their cities.”
Bloomberg’s op-ed reflected many similar points that his campaign manager made during an appearance on CNN. The candidate also wrote that through social media and cable news, there are more avenues to reach voters. “The traditional justification for giving two small states so much influence is that larger states require more money,” he wrote. “But with social media platforms and cable news, there are few barriers to getting a message out — that’s why more than two dozen Democrats entered the race.”
Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg 2020 campaign manager: “If the election is held in Wisconsin today, any Democrat loses to Donald Trump according to the polls. That’s something that this campaign is very focused on changing” pic.twitter.com/YZUrA2hPY3
— The Hill (@thehill) January 14, 2020
Sheekey proposed an alternative plan. “What Mike Bloomberg said in an op-ed on CNN today is that if he was President of the United States and the head of the Democratic party, he would reorder the primaries to reflect where the battleground states are,” Sheekey told CNN. “You would lead with Wisconsin, with Michigan, with Pennsylvania, end with North Carolina or Florida.”
He also said that an increased Democratic presence would help a Democrat get elected against President Donald Trump. “Imagine the difference that we would be seeing today, if for a year, Democrats-18, 24 different presidential candidates were knocking on doors in those states-we would be poised to win those states in November,” he said. “Right now, if the election is held in Wisconsin today, any Democrat loses to Donald Trump, according to the polls.”
According to a Marquette Law School poll conducted December 3-8, Trump held at least a two-point lead over Buttigieg, Sanders and Warren. The poll numbers indicated that the president trailed Biden 47 to 46 percent — all numbers within the poll’s margin of error.
However, a Fox News poll conducted January 5-8, shows that the four Democrats are all ahead of Trump though the results are also within the margin of error. Biden holds the largest lead at 46 to 41 percent over Trump, followed by Sanders at 46 percent to Trump’s 42 percent.
Buttigieg and Warren lead the president in the poll by 1 and 2 percent, respectively.
The Bloomberg campaign did not immediately respond to Newsweek’s request for comment.