Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday he would not make an independent run for the presidency, as he had been considering, because of fears it would result in a Republican victory.

In a column at Bloomberg News titled “The Risk I Will Not Take,” Mr. Bloomberg said he thinks he could win some states but “not enough to win the 270 Electoral College votes necessary to win the presidency.”

At that point, he said, with no candidate getting an electoral majority, the presidency would be determined by Congress, the House picking the president and the Senate the vice president.

“As the race stands now, with Republicans in charge of both Houses, there is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz. That is not a risk I can take in good conscience,” he wrote.

Mr. Bloomberg said Mr. Trump has “run the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on people’s prejudices and fears.” Mr. Cruz, he said, “may lack Trump’s rhetorical excess, but it is no less extreme.”

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