Bloomberg made his comments during an event for his supporters in Salt Lake City just a day after participating in his first debate since joining the race.
"Look, the real winner in the debate last night was Donald Trump, because I worry that we may be on the way to nominating somebody who cannot win in November," the former New York City mayor said. "If we choose a candidate who appeals to a small base, like Sen. Sanders, it will be a fatal error.”
BLOOMBERG: “The real winner in the debate last night was Donald Trump.”
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 20, 2020
pic.twitter.com/i5waPgHFPw
"We need Democrats, and independents and Republicans to win," he continued, "and that was the coalition that propelled Democrats to success in the midterms and it’s the coalition that we need to win in November."
Representatives from Trump’s reelection campaign have called the debate in Nevada a “meltdown,” referring to the attacks exchanged between the participants on stage.
“The Democrat Party is in the midst of a full-scale meltdown," national press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement. "Americans are watching the party of JFK be torn apart by anti-job socialists and anti-worker globalists who want to control every aspect of Americans’ lives. This train wreck is nothing compared to what they would do to our country.”
Bloomberg became the main target of the attacks of other candidates, who took aim at his controversial stop-and-frisk policy during his time as New York City mayor as well as his decision to self-finance his campaign instead of fundraising.
Bloomberg's campaign maintained after the contentious two-hour forum that he had a successful debate night.
"You know you are a winner when you are drawing attacks from all the candidates. Everyone came to destroy Mike tonight. It didn’t happen. Everyone wanted him to lose his cool. He didn't do it. He was the grownup in the room," Bloomberg's campaign manager Kevin Sheekey said in a statement.
