PROVIDENCE — Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo have a lot in common: center-left politics, New England upbringings, backgrounds in finance and a lot of bad things to say about President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday the two joined forces as Raimondo endorsed the billionaire businessman for president, the first governor in the country to back him in a wide open Democratic primary.

"It was an easy call because he stands above the other candidates. He delivers," Raimondo told a crowd at the Wexford Innovation Center in Providence. "I am with him because America needs leadership and he can win in November."

Raimondo is also joining Bloomberg's self-financed presidential campaign as a national co-chair.

"My fellow Democrats are all good people, but I offer a different choice and a different type of leadership," Bloomberg told the crowd. "Basically you can say I am the un-Trump. Just think about it: He breaks promises; I keep them. He divides people; I try to unite them. He is a climate denier; I am an engineer. I actually believe in science. Can you imagine that?"

He went on: "[Trump] looks out for people who inherited wealth and, unlike him, I am self made. And I will raise estate taxes and reverse the Trump tax cuts to generate the revenue we need to start fighting income inequality in this country."

Raimondo stayed out of the presidential race all last year while chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association, but when 77-year-old former Republican Bloomberg announced his intention to run as a Democrat last November, she was one of the first people his camp called. A decade ago she memorably called him her "political idol."

On Wednesday morning, Bloomberg and Raimondo, two finance professionals turned politicians, grabbed coffee at food emporium Plant City before walking across the recently completed Providence River pedestrian bridge to the rally at the Wexford Innovation Center.

The showpiece of Raimondo's economic development strategy for the city, the Wexford complex and Raimondo's ideas for an "innovation institute" were based on Bloomberg's 2011 Applied Sciences Competition, which turned into the Cornell Tech campus on New York's Roosevelt Island.

Raimondo's endorsement comes as Bloomberg, who grew up in Medford, Massachusetts, hopes to take advantage of the chaos surrounding the results of the Iowa caucuses — which he skipped — and the relatively poor showing there of presumed front-runner and moderate standard-bearer Joe Biden.

Bloomberg is skipping the first four events of primary season and hoping his self-funded television advertising campaign will allow him to vault ahead of the pack in the Super Tuesday states that vote March 3. Rhode Island's presidential primary is April 28.

The Bloomberg campaign announced Tuesday that it plans to open a Rhode Island campaign office and hire "nearly two dozen" staff. The first two hires appear to be longtime Raimondo allies: Cara Cromwell, as Rhode Island state director, and Jon Duffy as senior adviser.

Brown University political science professor Wendy Schiller told The Journal Wednesday that Raimondo's endorsement is likely a larger reflection of unease among Democratic governors with the more progressive candidates in the primary, particularly Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

"She would not have made this endorsement without some discussion with Democratic governors across the country about who the nominee would be and what they are concerned about," Schiller said. "There is a group [of governors] around Gina's age who are looking at higher office ... and are concerned [the] wrong nominee will bring the party down."

Of course, there are other, more centrist, options in the field, such as Biden, who stumped for Raimondo's truck toll plan, and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who visited Raimondo's house last November.

"Not with that kind of money," Schiller said, comparing the other moderate Democrats to Bloomberg and his fortune.

Raimondo is barred by term limits from running for governor again, contributing to speculation about her future. On whether Raimondo wants to be tapped for a potential vice presidential pick, Schiller said Bloomberg remains a dark horse in the primary and, even if Bloomberg wins the nomination, Raimondo is an unlikely choice "because Rhode Island is not big enough," but could be a pick for a cabinet position.

"She will be a surrogate for Bloomberg — send her all over to the suburbs to talk to women, Republican and Democratic women; I think she becomes a powerful surrogate for him," Schiller said. "And every time she goes out on the road for Bloomberg she is shoring up her own base for the future. It's a smart move for someone who may run for higher office."

Will stumping for Bloomberg mean Rhode Islanders will see a lot less of Raimondo in the state?

"As a co-chair of the Bloomberg 2020 campaign, she will provide advice and attend events," Raimondo spokeswoman Jennifer Bogdan Jones said in an email. "She's prepared to do whatever it takes to support Mike and defeat President Trump."

Bloomberg's rally was briefly interrupted by at least four protesters who were removed from the building.

Who is Bloomberg's base?

Rick Fuller, a retired 79-year-old from East Providence, told The Journal outside the rally he was a lifelong Republican who left the party because of Trump.

"I like what he had to say, that he is un-Trump," Fuller said of Bloomberg. "I like that fact that he has done things."

Karen Davis, a 59-year-old consultant from South Kingstown, said Bloomberg is a "proven leader on may issues I care deeply about, from education to the environment to gun control. He's self-made and a genuinely successful person who will bring people together and not divide them."