Judith Sheindlin — aka Judge Judy — is hitting the road for Mike Bloomberg and becoming a main attraction wherever she and the billionaire roam.
Since officially throwing in for Mike on Jan 6., the T.V. judge has barnstormed the country, including a bus tour from San Antonio to Dallas, and series of events in Oklahoma City with Bloomberg on Feb. 8. More plans are in the hopper.
Michelle Beckley, a Democratic member of the Texas legislature, said she drove nearly an hour to Dallas to hear Sheindlin speak at the Happiest Hour bar last month.
“They had to turn away three hundred people. There were about four or five hundred people. There are fire codes, that room wasn’t big enough … I have been to a lot of these events. People in Dallas are excited,” the freshman lawmaker told The Post.
“She had a very calm speech. She was not the Judge Judy that you see on TV. Her speech was very educated, very well thought out, just talking about the points about why she was supporting him. She has never supported anyone before,” Beckley added.
The stopover was part of a swing through the Lone Star state that also brought Sheindlin and Bloomberg, both 77, to San Antonio and Austin. With his near-limitless resources, Bloomberg is looking to build momentum by skipping traditional early-voting states to get a jump on the 15 states and territories which vote on March 3, Super Tuesday. Meanwhile, chaos has engulfed the Democrats’ early state nominating contests.
In Oklahoma City, Bloomberg and Sheindlin held a somber visit with former Gov. Brad Henry at a museum dedicated to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings and talked up the local press.
“I was born in Brooklyn so I have Brooklyn street smarts,” Sheindlin told Fox 25. “America doesn’t need a revolution. … It’s the most perfect country in the world and those people that are trying to change it and revolutionize it, don’t have a chance, because I’ll fight them to the death.”
As in Texas, Sheindlin always was a popular target for selfie-takers — like the Southwest Baptist University softball team.
It all may be working. Current polling has showed Bloomberg surging in recent weeks, with a recent NPR/PBS/Marist poll placing him at 19% support nationally — second only to Bernie Sanders. The media mogul has already spent at least $350 million on campaign ads around the country.
Judge Judy, now in its 24th season, has made Sheindlin one of the most recognizable women in America. In Texas alone her show is viewable on 20 different stations and regularly draws upwards of 10 million viewers a day nationally, according to Forbes. In the process she’s also picked up three Emmys, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and become one of the highest paid television stars in the United States.
Despite her ubiquitous TV presence, Sheindlin only tapes shows 52 days a year — giving her plenty of time to stump for Bloomberg.
Even when she’s not on officially on the trail with her new BFF, the judge is mobbed by fans and well-wishers.
Twin brothers Mike and Kwame Grayson, 37, ran into Sheindlin near ABC’s studios in Manhattan and couldn’t get enough.
“She is a truth machine and I am very much a fan of her work so I trust her word. I definitely trust her word. If she trusts Mike, just off that alone, that would make me want to look into what Mike is doing and who he is. Just off that alone,” Mike Grayson told The Post.
“You have a person like Judge Judy backing you up and endorsing you, things could go well for Mike. It’s like when Oprah endorsed Obama.”
Sheindlin made waves when she formally endorsed Bloomberg. It was the first time the television judge had ever waded so publicly into presidential politics. Sheindlin revealed her preference back in October — before Bloomberg ever announced — when she told an audience at the Cambridge Union he would be “a perfect presidential candidate.”
So would a Bloomberg administration include Judge Judy?
“Not a chance,” she told The Post.