Michael Bloomberg's campaign rolled out endorsements from three African American members of Congress Wednesday – a day after President Trump accused the former New York Mayor of being a 'TOTAL RACIST.'

The endorsements by black caucus members came after Bloomberg's past support for stop-and-frisk policing blew up as a campaign issue, after video resurfaced and Trump attacked. It also coincides with a push by Democrats to crank up efforts to compete for black and minority support in more diverse states now that Iowa and New Hampshire are behind them.

The three included Democratic U.S. Representative Gregory Meeks of New York City, where Bloomberg was mayor for 12 years. As a senior caucus member and chair of a caucus fundraising arm, his is one of the highest-profile endorsements yet for Bloomberg, who is seeking his party's nomination to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in November's election.

shakes hands with supporters during a rally at Alabama State University student center in Montgomery, Ala., on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020. He rolled out endorsements from three Black Caucus members a day after President Trump called him a racist

Meek's endorsement, first reported by Reuters, signals that Bloomberg is building support among some top African-American politicians despite a 2015 audio recording that surfaced on Tuesday. In the recording, Bloomberg made a blunt defense of a policing strategy during his mayoralty, known as stop-and-frisk, that disproportionately ensnared blacks and Latinos.

Also endorsing Bloomberg on Wednesday were U.S. Representative Lucy McBath of Georgia, who said she was backing Bloomberg in part because of his proposals to curb gun violence. She hailed his "unmatched record in gun violence prevention."

McBath lost her 17-year-old son, Jordan Davis, after he was shot in 2012 at a Florida gas station following an argument over music. Michael Dunn was convicted of attempted murder.

Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, a Congressional Black Caucus member who represents the U.S. Virgin Islands as a nonvoting member of Congress, also endorsed the billionaire former New York City mayor.

Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.)

Meeks is a senior lawmaker who chairs subpanels on the Foreign Affairs and Financial Services Committees. The House Ethics Committee concluded an investigation of him back in 2012 after examining a $40,000 loan he got from a real estate agent who admitted to an unrelated mortgage fraud.

The audio of the former New York mayor adamantly defending the use of stop-and-frisk policing in minority communities emerged at a time when Democrats seeking the presidential nomination are intensely focused on support from black voters. Blacks make up a majority of the electorate in South Caroline, which votes later this month.

The two states that kicked off the nominating process, Iowa and New Hampshire, are among the whitest in the nation.

Bloomberg was heard in the tape from 2015 saying '...we put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that's true. Why do we do it? Because that's where all the crime is.'

In the audio Bloomberg acknowledges that part of the strategy is to 'put all the cops in minority neighborhoods' with the hope of tackling gun violence.

'Ninety-five percent of murders- murderers and murder victims fit one M.O. You can just take a description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all the cops,' Bloomberg told the audience. The speech was tweeted by a Bernie Sanders supporter.

The attack comes weeks before the South Carolina primary, where black voters will make up a substantial share of the electorate. Bloomberg is skipping the first four contests

In this June 17, 2012, file photo, the Rev. Al Sharpton, center, walks with demonstrators during a silent march to end New York's 'stop-and-frisk' program. On Aug. 12, 2013, a federal judge sitting in New York said the department made thousands of racially discriminatory street stops and appointed a monitor to direct changes

President Trump attacked Bloomberg's golf game after deleting his earlier tweet calling him a racist

Bloomberg also launched a campaign swing through North Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee. He blasted Trump for the attack Tuesday after meeting with a group of faith leaders.

His campaign manager, Kevin Sheekey, told NBC News: 'When you threaten Trump, you become a target. Mike was mayor for 12 years and fought for all New Yorkers, but he also knows you don’t back down from a bully and we are in a war to remove him from office.'

Meeks said he backed Bloomberg for his economic policies and ability to beat Trump.

'The most vulnerable communities in America cannot weather another four years of a Donald Trump presidency,' Meeks said in a statement.

Bloomberg has been rising in public opinion polls despite not competing in the first four state contests for the Democratic nomination: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Instead, the billionaire former mayor is spending hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money to blanket the national airwaves with advertising.

As a moderate Democrat, Bloomberg hopes to win votes beginning on March 3, known as Super Tuesday, when his name will be on the ballot in 14 state nominating contests.

Those hopes have been buoyed this month as the early moderate front-runner, Joe Biden, has performed weakly in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Bloomberg has long struggled with the legacy of the stop-and-frisk tactic employed while he was mayor of the United States' biggest city 2002 to 2013, in which police stopped and searched pedestrians.

He apologized for the policy in November just before announcing his candidacy and has since taken great pains to court the black vote, including a proposal unveiled last month to narrow the wealth gap between black and white Americans.

Bloomberg apologized on Tuesday amid the uproar, in comments reported by Bloomberg News, which is part of the billionaire's media empire.

'I apologize. I own it. And there’s nothing – I’m going to live with it. My heart, I think, was in the right place of trying to do something of reducing murders but the police – I didn’t pay as much attention to them as I should have. And you know, I apologize,' Bloomberg said.