OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Former two-term Democratic Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry endorsed presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg in his race for the Democratic nomination, the Bloomberg campaign announced on Tuesday.
Henry is one of the most prominent Democrats in the state, having served two terms as governor after upsetting NFL star and then-U.S. Rep. Steve Largent in 2002.
“Mike is the once-in-a-generation candidate that we need to soothe the nation,” Henry said in a statement released by the campaign. “The vast challenges we face deserve a leader who understands how to unite and how to bring people together, and Mike is that leader.”
Bloomberg has been actively campaigning in Oklahoma and is making his third visit to the state on Thursday. The former New York City mayor has hired nearly two dozen staffers in Oklahoma and opened offices in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Lawton.
In January, he visited the site of a race massacre in Tulsa’s Greenwood District, where he rolled out a plan for increasing the number of black-owned homes and businesses.
Oklahoma votes next week as part of Super Tuesday, and Bloomberg’s strategy has been to focus heavily on those 14 states, where about a third of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention are at stake.