Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorsed Michael R. Bloomberg for president on Saturday, saying the billionaire’s experience as mayor of New York City demonstrated that he has the skills to run the nation.

“I’m with Michael Bloomberg because I watched him lead America’s largest city, which has always been a gateway of hope, promise and opportunity,” Villaraigosa said. “Michael Bloomberg and I have been contemporaries who tried to bring our country together from coast to coast, to stand for the idea that the quality of people’s lives always has to come first, and that our leaders need to unite us around the notion that we’re always trying to create a more perfect union.”

Villaraigosa and Bloomberg, who will appear together at a Los Angeles restaurant Sunday morning, have a long history. They overlapped as mayors, with Bloomberg attending Villaraigosa’s inauguration in 2005. They worked together on gun control, climate change and education reform.

In the 2018 governor’s race, Bloomberg donated millions of dollars to a pro-Villaraigosa, anti-Gavin Newsom independent expenditure committee composed of charter school backers.

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