Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg said Thursday that he would shutter his campaign operation if someone else wins the nomination and rejects his support, as an aide to front-runner Bernie Sanders pledged to do earlier this week.

“What do you mean, I’m going to send a check to somebody and they’re not going to cash the check? I think I wouldn’t bother to send the check,” Bloomberg, who rallied supporters in Houston on Thursday morning, said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.

Bloomberg, a billionaire media mogul and former New York City mayor, has poured more than $500 million into his campaign on ad spending alone. He told rally attendants that he operates well over 100 field offices around the country, including nearly 20 in Texas filled with 180 staffers.

Though Bloomberg has said he intends to redirect his campaign outfit to help the eventual nominee if he loses, Sanders aide Jeff Weaver on Tuesday told NBC News “it’s a hard no” when asked if the senator from Vermont would accept Bloomberg’s help.

Bloomberg, asked about Weaver’s comment, said, “It’s fine with me. You’re saving me a lot of money, thank you very much.”

“I said that I would help, I’m going to keep our campaign offices, the main ones anyways, open until Nov. 3,” Bloomberg added. “And if they don’t want to use them, then fine. Then we’ll close them.”

Asked if he would divert his planned presidential spending to down-ballot races in that scenario, Bloomberg said he would fund Democrats in nonpresidential contests regardless. He noted his support for 21 winning Democratic congressional candidates in 2018, including U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston.

“It’s not an either-or,” Bloomberg said, though he did not specify whether he would spend more on down-ballot races if the presidential nominee rejects his help.

Bloomberg’s comments came after a rally in downtown Houston at The Rustic, where he was introduced by Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. Bloomberg also is scheduled to make a campaign stop in San Antonio on Sunday, two days before the Texas primaries.

Other candidates are making last-minute stops throughout the state. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts rallied in San Antonio on Thursday and is to be in Houston on Saturday, ahead of businessman Tom Steyer’s planned visit to the Bayou City on Sunday.

Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., is scheduled to make stops in Dallas and Austin, while former Vice President Joe Biden is set to visit Houston and Dallas on Monday.

Recent polls have shown Biden and Sanders jockeying for the lead in Texas, trailed by Bloomberg and Warren. A poll released by Progress Texas/Public Policy Polling this week found that Biden would jump out to a six-point lead over Sanders if Bloomberg were not in the race.

Bloomberg said he has “a right to run” and called it “ridiculous” to suggest that he is aiding Sanders’ path to the nomination by staying in the race and eating into Biden’s support.

“Our polling, I don’t know that it shows that. If you take out anybody, everybody else benefits because those votes go elsewhere,” Bloomberg said. “I would take away votes, I hope, from most of them. That’s the whole idea.”

In the interview, Bloomberg also weighed in on some Democrats’ concerns that Sanders would jeopardize down-ballot Democrats, particularly those running in battleground Texas House districts. Democrats are aiming to flip the lower chamber, where Republicans hold a nine-seat majority.

“I think there’s no question about that,” Bloomberg said. “The moderates of both the Republican and Democratic Party will not. They will pick Trump over Bernie Sanders.”

During his 17-minute stump speech, Bloomberg directed most of his fire toward Trump, slamming the president over his response to the coronavirus outbreak. He said Trump “buried his head in the sand” when briefed on the threat and is “crippling our ability to respond now that it’s at our doorstep.”

The former mayor has begun running a coronavirus-focused TV and digital ad accusing Trump of making “reckless cuts” to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trump has proposed funding cuts to the CDC, but Congress has not approved them.

Bloomberg also promised Thursday not to tweet from the Oval Office, as Trump is known to do. He also framed himself as the candidate with the most experience going head to head against Trump, from their years in New York City.

“I know how to play against Donald Trump,” Bloomberg said. “I know how to beat him, and I’m ready to do it again.”

jasper.scherer@chron.com