In or out? Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg declares his plans for 2020 election

Former New York City Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday in an editorial for Bloomberg News that he will not be running for president in 2020.

What did Bloomberg say?

Although he had initially been registered as a Democrat, Bloomberg ran for mayor of New York City for all three of his terms as a Republican, though he did briefly switch to being an independent in 2007. He registered as a Democrat again in October, and has been a frequent critic of President Donald Trump. He spent $100 million to elect Democrats to the House in 2018.

In January, Bloomberg warned former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz not to run for president as an independent candidate because "there is no way an independent can win."

In the editorial, Bloomberg said that he has grown "more frustrated by the incompetence in the Oval Office." He said he believed he "would defeat Donald Trump in a general election" but that he was "clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field."

He also said that he thought "that until 2021, and possibly longer, our only real hope for progress lies outside of Washington. And unlike most who are running or thinking of it, I'm fortunate enough to be in a position to devote the resources needed to bring people together and make a big difference."

He may not be running, but he'll still be politically active

Instead of running for president, Bloomberg said he would devote his resources to retiring "every single coal-fired power plant over the next 11 years" through his Beyond Coal campaign. He predicted the Green New Deal would fail to pass in the Senate, but declared that "Mother Nature does not wait on our political calendar, and neither can we."

He also promised to push more gun control legislation and to fight for other social initiatives, including improving public schools, increasing access to college, battling the opioid epidemic, and reducing homelessness.