John Rogers and Mellody Hobson to host African American speakers next week as billionaire seeks black votes

This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

Two prominent Democratic donors in Chicago with deep ties to Barack Obama will next week co-host an event for former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg.

Once a longshot, Bloomberg is gaining ground in California. Will it last? Read more

John Rogers and Mellody Hobson will co-host a briefing in downtown Chicago.

Rogers is a philanthropist, investor and founder of Ariel Investments who was co-chair of the former president’s Illinois finance committee. Hobson, a prominent Chicago businesswoman, is a former chair of DreamWorks Animation and a major Democratic donor.

Rogers has appeared at public events with Bloomberg and has said he is supporting the former New York mayor.

The briefing, an invitation for which was obtained by the Guardian, will be on Tuesday 18 February and will be addressed by Steve Benjamin, the mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, and Kimberly Peeler-Allen, director of the Committee for Mike.

Benjamin, the first African American mayor of Columbia, endorsed Bloomberg in late 2019. Peeler-Allen is a co-founder of Higher Heights, a group which seeks build leadership and power among African American women.

The Chicago event comes as Bloomberg looks to gain support in the African American community. After a week featuring controversy over Bloomberg’s record in office in New York and comments about his stop-and-frisk policing policy, on Thursday his campaign launched Mike for Black America, a national outreach effort.

South Carolina is the next but one state to vote in the Democratic primary, on 29 February, its African American voters a major presence at the polls.

Bloomberg is targeting the Super Tuesday states which vote on 3 March and has focused his efforts elsewhere.

A recent Eastern Carolina University poll of likely South Carolina voters found Bloomberg with just 5% support, behind former vice-president Joe Biden with 28%, Senator Bernie Sanders with 20%, billionaire Tom Steyer with 14% and Senator Elizabeth Warren with 7%.

The Bloomberg campaign is also taking a unique approach to the donor community.

The former mayor, who is worth around $60bn, is funding his own campaign but he and his team have continued to court donors.

The Committee for Mike is an arm of the campaign that acts like a traditional fundraising team except it only solicits support from wealthy donors, rather than money.

This article was corrected on 15 February 2020 to clarify that the Committee for Mike only solicits support, not donations.







