SPRINGFIELD — Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg — a late entrant into the 2020 Democratic race for president — will have a Springfield office as part of his campaign in the state leading up to the March 17 primary.

Bloomberg and another contender for president, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, recently announced top campaign staffers in Illinois.

A Springfield office “likely will be opened and staffed come January,” said Tom Bowen of Oak Park, senior advisor to the Bloomberg campaign.

“I expect Mr. Bloomberg will be campaigning vigorously throughout Illinois,” he added. “I have every expectation that the central Illinois region will see him.”

Forbes magazine lists Bloomberg’s worth at $56 billion, but given his recent decision to run, he has not been part of debates that have featured several other Democratic presidential candidates, including Warren. To make the debate stage, under rules set by the Democratic National Committee, candidates must meet a polling threshhold but also raise donations from tens of thousands of voters. Bloomberg is funding his own campaign.

Bloomberg, co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., a financial, software, data and media company, was mayor of New York from 2002 to 2013.

“Very few candidates have the track record of succeeding on issues that are important to voters, and Mayor Bloomberg is one of them,” Bowen said.

Bowen was among five people announced as part of Bloomberg’s Illinois leadership team. He is co-founder and a principal with New Chicago consulting, in the Windy City. Bowen has worked or consulted with more than 75 campaigns including President Barack Obama in 2008; former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2011 campaign; Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 2019 campaign; and the now-ended 2020 presidential campaign of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.

Also on the Bloomberg campaign staff:

* Kara Highfill of Chicago is the campaign’s state director. She is taking a leave of absence from State Treasurer Mike Frerichs’ office where she is advocacy director for the division of unclaimed property. Highfill managed Frerichs’ re-election campaign in 2018 and managed political campaigns at the state, county and local level since 2016.

* Bloomberg Illinois communications director Julie Kaviar worked as chief of staff to Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton. She also was a deputy press secretary to Emanuel and worked in communications for former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration. Patrick also was a late entrant in the 2020 race.

* Briana Collins of Arlington Heights is operations director. She worked for Bloomberg’s mayoral administration and also was his appointee as executive director of the New York City Commission on Women’s Issues from 2006-2012.

* Joshua May of Vernon Hills was named associate political director for Bloomberg in Illinois. He has worked as political director for U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Deerfield, and is on leave from the staff of state Rep. Bob Morgan, also of Deerfield.

The Warren campaign, in a statement, announced it has 20 people on staff in Illinois including seven senior staffers.

* Stephen Campbell was named state director. He formerly was political director of the Illinois Senate Democratic Victory Fund. He is a graduate of Roosevelt University in Chicago and worked on Illinois Senate Democratic staff. “Elizabeth Warren understands the importance of organizing and knows that the way we’ll win in 2020 and make big, structural change come January 2021 is by organizing a grassroots movement,” Campbell said in the statement.

* Maggie Seppi, organizing director, joined the Warren campaign after being New Hampshire organizing director on the now-ended presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Seppi also was deputy field director for the North Carolina Democratic Party.

* Jason Lee, Warren’s community organizing director, served as political director for United Working Families, a Chicago organization that, according to its website, recruits, trains and runs black and Latinx candidates. He also has been an advisor and field director for the Chicago Teachers Union.

* Tonantzin Carmona, Illinois political outreach director for Warren, was a special assistant to the president of the Chicago Community Trust and earlier chief of policy in the Chicago city clerk’s office. She is a Chicago native and a graduate of Northwestern University.

* Training director Emma LaBounty was an organizer with the Chicago Metro Project of the American Federation of Teachers before joining the Warren campaign. She is a University of Chicago grad.

* Daniel Curtis, data director, was formerly chief of staff for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Policy for the World Project.

* Erica Sagrans, Warren’s Illinois mobilization director, is an organizer and campaign strategist whose experience includes being campaign manager for state Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago.

Presidential candidates and candidates to be elected delegates to national political conventions must file Jan. 2-3 to get on the Illinois primary ballot.