Former three-term New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited New Hampshire Saturday, further fueling speculation that he may run for president in 2020.

Bloomberg, 76, who recently re-registered as a Democrat, told reporters that he is focused on the midterm elections but is keeping open his future political options.

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“Right now I’m focused on Nov. 6, plain and simple,” he said, according to The Associated Press.

But the billionaire owner of Bloomberg News also said “we’ll see what happens down the road,” when asked about his plans after the midterms. 

New Hampshire traditionally hosts the first presidential primary in the country soon after the Iowa caucuses and is seen as a crucial contest for White House hopefuls who want to build early momentum.

Bloomberg visited Nashua to attend a get-out-the-vote rally for state House candidates organized by Moms Demand Action, a grass-roots advocacy group promoting gun control legislation.

The former mayor himself is an outspoken advocate of preventing gun violence and co-founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns in 2006.

He flirted with an independent bid for president in 2016, announcing he would wage a White House campaign if President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE won the GOP nomination and Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Milley apologizes for church photo-op Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness MORE (I-Vt.) won the Democratic nomination.

But when Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonWhite House accuses Biden of pushing ‘conspiracy theories’ with Trump election claim Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton qualifies to run for county commissioner in Florida MORE defeated Sanders in the Democratic primary, Bloomberg shelved his bid.

Asked where he fits in today’s Democratic Party, Bloomberg described himself and the broader party as centrist.

He argued that Democrats are “much more centrist than people understand. They want sensible laws. And what they want is some check and balance on the White House,” according to Concord Monitor reporter Paul Steinhauser, who tweeted a video of the exchange.

Bloomberg has also told House Democratic Leader Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiTrump on collision course with Congress over bases with Confederate names Black lawmakers unveil bill to remove Confederate statues from Capitol Pelosi: Georgia primary ‘disgrace’ could preview an election debacle in November MORE (D-Calif.) that he will help Democratic candidates this fall.

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Democratic candidate for New York’s 19th Congressional District Antonio Delgado denounced attack ads from outside groups criticizing his rap career during a debate with Rep. John FasoJohn James FasoThe most expensive congressional races of the last decade The 31 Trump districts that will determine the next House majority GOP House super PAC targets two freshman Dems with new ads MORE (R-N.Y.) Friday. 

My first question in our #NY19 debate on @WMHTPubMedia was on the controversial ads highlighting @DelgadoforNY19’s rap album from 2007. Full answer from both Mr. Delgado and @JohnFasoNy. Watch full debate here – https://t.co/04PCgdk13u pic.twitter.com/TNcLLS2qvW

— Matt Ryan (@MMR_MattRyan) October 19, 2018

“I think the ads are deeply unfortunate, and they speak to a climate right now that is divisive and ugly, and we can do better,” he said. “I think what we’ve seen as far as the trends are going in this country is away from cooperation and communicating with each other with decency and respect.” 

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“We have to get beyond this if we really want to solve complicated problems, if we really want to deal with the issues…we’ve got to get to a point where we’re no longer at each other’s throats just spewing misleading facts and get to the substance of what’s really going wrong with our country right now,” he added. 

Faso, who is trying to win a second term in Congress, distanced himself from the ads that critics have slammed as racist.

“I would just simply point out that those are not my ads, those ads are provocative, no doubt, those ads, however, are provocative and Mr. Delgado’s words are provocative,” he said.

“I do regret the notion that somehow these ads were mine, because they’re not, and I’ll tell you this, I reject the support of anyone who would vote for me because of Mr. Delgado’s race,” Faso added. 

The National Republican Congressional Committee has released two ads highlighting Delgado’s rap career that drew widespread ire.

One ad released in September titled “NY-19: ‘Can’t Afford Delgado,’” labels him a “big city rapper.”

“Just like Governor Cuomo and Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiTrump on collision course with Congress over bases with Confederate names Black lawmakers unveil bill to remove Confederate statues from Capitol Pelosi: Georgia primary ‘disgrace’ could preview an election debacle in November MORE, big city rapper Antonio Delgado supports their radical government takeover of health care,” the narrator in the ad says.

The NRCC released another ad earlier in September that spliced together some of the scenes from a music video by Delgado in which he uses the n-word, profanity, references to sexual acts and says “God bless Iraq,” with images of the candidate giving a standard campaign speech in more formal attire. 

“It’s disappointing that John Faso and his supporters are still focused on distractions by spreading fear, hatred, and division. We continue to call on Faso to condemn these divisive and deceptive ads,” Delgado said in a statement at the time. 

New York’s 19th Congressional District is home to one of the nation’s tightest House races and a seat Democrats are keen on flipping in November, with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee adding it to their “red to blue” program. The district voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, but voted for President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE in 2016. The Cook Political Report rates the seat as a “toss up.”

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DES MOINES, Iowa — Deidre DeJear, the first black candidate to win a major-party nomination for a statewide race in Iowa, is quickly establishing herself as an up-and-coming star in the Democratic Party.

She has received considerable attention and support from prominent politicians, most recently with potential 2020 presidential candidates Sens. Bernie SandersBernie SandersThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Milley apologizes for church photo-op Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness MORE (I-Vt.) and Kamala HarrisKamala Devi HarrisRand Paul introduces bill to end no-knock warrants The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook McEnany says Juneteenth is a very ‘meaningful’ day to Trump MORE (D-Calif.) campaigning for her earlier this week.

“Let me tell you, you guys have a rock star in her,” Harris said Monday at a rally here hosted by the Polk County Democrats. She added that DeJear has “got a vision not only for Iowa, she’s got a vision for the country.”

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The 32-year-old nominee for Iowa secretary of state has big plans if she emerges victorious on Election Day, but her No. 1 goal is to boost voter turnout in a state that holds the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses in less than 16 months.

In an interview at a coffee shop before the rally with Harris, DeJear told The Hill that she thinks high-profile Democrats are helping her in order to “elevate the importance of what the secretary of state’s office does, and to re-instill the value of the vote for folks in Iowa.”

“Any time that they come, the biggest priority is to make sure that we’re giving them that platform to encourage people to participate and encourage people to get engaged, because we’ve got so many folks that aren’t participating in our elections,” she said.

“When we think about the progression of voting rights in our country, and in 2018, we have voter rolls being purged as an effort to clean the data, but the effort to connect with the voter is null and void,” she added. “We need to do better.”

DeJear is challenging the incumbent secretary of state, Paul Pate (R), who has held the post since 2015 after a previous sting in the 1990s. Governing Magazine contributor Louis Jacobson earlier this month shifted his rating of the race from “lean Republican” to “tossup.”

The secretary of state position is one of a number of offices in Iowa that Democrats hope they can flip in next month’s midterms. Iowa Democrats are also pushing to win the governor’s race and flip the three congressional districts held by Republicans.

DeJear said she wants to use the secretary of state’s office to boost voter participation. She criticized Pate for spearheading a 2017 law passed by the state legislature that requires voter identification and makes other changes to the voting process, and for not doing enough to educate the public and local officials about the statute — leading to confusion during the law’s “soft rollout” this year.

“An ID requirement I don’t believe is necessary,” she said.

Pate has defended the voter law, saying on Iowa Public Television last month that most residents wanted an ID requirement and that his office is sending free IDs to people who don’t have one.

“I wanted to make sure the bill itself was one that was doing the job and not disenfranchising but actually assuring them of the integrity of the system,” he said.

DeJear, who is originally from Mississippi and went to middle school and high school in Oklahoma before moving to Iowa to attend Drake University, first got involved in voting issues when she was in middle school. It was then that she helped her grandmother, a teacher, run for elections commissioner in Yazoo County, Mississippi.

“At that point in time in my life … she was the only woman that I had known to run for public office, but she wasn’t doing it in a political way. She was running for office because she thought it was important to engage her students in civics, engage them as it related to voting,” DeJear said. “And that’s how I think the seeds were planted in me as it related to voting.”

After the 2008 Iowa caucuses she became a campus organizer for the Obama campaign and later worked on his 2012 campaign as Iowa African-American vote director. She’s also managed successful campaigns for the Des Moines school board, and she founded a small business that helps small businesses market themselves.

DeJear said that being a woman and a black American — two groups that haven’t always had voting rights in the U.S. — has increased the importance in her life of expressing herself through voting, and she wants others to embrace the value of casting a ballot.

“For me, it’s less about me being black, it’s less about me being a woman, and it’s more about me being an Iowan, trying to connect with every eligible voter in our state and giving them a reason to vote again,” she said.

When asked if she thought Iowans would be receptive to Harris, an African-American woman, running for president, DeJear said: “I know they’ve been receptive to me. I think that right now what Iowa is receptive to is genuine, heartfelt people who have a vested interest in resolving the issues within their communities.”

In addition to participating in political events this week with Harris and Sanders, Sen. Cory BookerCory Anthony BookerRand Paul introduces bill to end no-knock warrants Black lawmakers unveil bill to remove Confederate statues from Capitol Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk MORE (D-N.J.), another potential 2020 contender, campaigned earlier this month for DeJear, who has been endorsed by former President Obama.

But the big names stumping for DeJear should not expect an endorsement in the 2020 caucuses if she wins on Nov. 6. DeJear said she has “blinders” on when it comes to the presidential race and would not back a candidate because she thinks the secretary of state’s office should be nonpartisan.

“What would my endorsement do? To me, it would skew voters,” she said. “You’re secretary of state. You should probably be quiet and just encourage voting.”

As for all the national attention she’s getting from the party, she says it’s not important to her.

“The title that I truly want is not rising star,” she said. “The title that I truly want is secretary of state.”

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President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE said Sunday that Republicans will likely “do well” in the House during the upcoming midterms, while noting that his “primary focus” in campaigning has been on the Senate.

Speaking with reporters outside the White House before departing for Georgia, Trump said “there are so many people in the House and that’s a lot of stops.” 

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“But I have done some House work also. But I think we’re going to do well in the House but as you know, my primary focus has been on the Senate and I think we are going to do really well in the Senate,” he said in an exchange captured by CNN two days before the midterm elections. 

“With so many people in Congress, with so many people in the House, it’s very hard to make those stops. But I’ve made a number,” Trump added.

President Donald Trump on the midterms: “I think we are going to do well in the House, I think we are going to do really well in the Senate … the level of fervor, the level of fever is very strong on the Republican side” pic.twitter.com/WHrn1NNiYE

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 4, 2018

Polling has suggested that Republicans are likely to maintain their majority in the Senate, where a number of Democrats are up for reelection in states Trump won in 2016. But Democrats are likely to flip the House and regain control of the lower chamber, polls have indicated.

Trump added Sunday that “the level of fervor, the level of fever is very strong on the Republican side.”

“There is something going on out there, and I think you know what I mean. … The level of fervor, the level of fever is very strong on the Republican side. So I can’t speak to the blue, but I can speak to the red. There’s a lot of energy out there,” he said. 

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