Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D.) said he will run the "funnest campaign" and won't apologize for being a white male if he joins the large field of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
McAuliffe told conservative radio host John Fredericks Monday he is still considering jumping into the race, despite having passed his previously self-imposed March 31 deadline. Asked by Fredericks if he was "going to run and apology tour and apologize ... for being a successful white male," McAuliffe said no.
"If I do run, it will be the funnest campaign. It will be a happy tour," he said, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
McAuliffe agreed with the sentiments of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat who said he didn't want to go on an "apology tour" like former Vice President Joe Biden and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D., Texas) have for having white privilege.
"This is a self-made man who created a vibrant business, thousands and thousands of people he hired, paid 'em well and provided them with benefits," McAuliffe said of Bloomberg. "And that's going to be a negative? I mean are you kidding me? That is the American success story. He is an entrepreneur's entrepreneur."
CNN reported last month many top Democratic donors are waiting to see what McAuliffe does before committing to a candidate. He's known for his fundraising prowess while running the DNC; he even wrote in a memoir about leaving his wife and newborn son in the car for an important event that raised a million dollars.
McAuliffe suggested Virginia is currently a laughingstock, after Fredericks pointed out GOP issues before he took office and now with the current Democratic leadership. Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring (D.) admitted wearing blackface in their youth in February, and Lieutenant Gov. Justin Fairfax (D.) has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women.
Northam and Fairfax resisted calls for their resignations by numerous prominent Democrats, including McAuliffe.