January 11, 2020 - Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg was in Knoxville, Tennesee Friday for the grand opening of a campaign field office.

Bloomberg met with Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon before giving a speech at the new office located at 1601 Western Avenue.

WVLT News Reporter Justin McDuffie got a chance to speak with Bloomberg shortly after the speech and asked why he picked Knoxville to make a visit.

"It's part of the country that nobody goes and visits," Bloomberg said. The democratic presidential candidate went on to talk about the coal industry and retraining coal miners.

"Coal is not going to survive whether you like it or not," Bloomberg said, but added that "walking away from coal miners is not the right answer...my foundation has a bunch of programs where we try to retrain coal miners."

Of East Tennessee, Bloomberg said, "It's a place where people have the old line American values of family, and they know their neighbors, and they respect each other."

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