Michael Bloomberg Officially Spent Over $1 Billion on Presidential Bid

Insert your own line about what that money could've been spent on instead.

April 21, 2020

Michael Bloomberg — Image via Getty/Joe Raedle
Getty

According to Bloomberg (the news agency) Bloomberg (the mayor turned brief presidential candidate) spent more than $1 billion to fund his momentary attempt at becoming the 2020 nominee for the Democrats. This revelation is not the first one to point out how much money the former NYC mayor just threw away on a completely doomed campaign. But it is a staggering amount, even if he can afford it, and also may serve to make you feel less bad about the most expensive dumbass thing you bought one time and never used.

The amount that he spent to try and secure the bid represents the most money a politician has dropped on a campaign.

Note that his run only spanned four months.

According to the latest filing put together for the Federal Election Commission, Bloomberg spent $176 million in March as his run was wrapping up. He dropped his campaign on March 4, one day after Super Tuesday. That amount includes $18 million that was transferred to the Democratic National Committee. When March was winding down, the campaign had $11 million in the bank compared to $14.8 million in debts.

The businessman/three-term mayor entered the battle royale for the nomination later than all the other major candidates, as he joined on November 24, 2019. He ended up spending $580 million for ads and to fill out a staff of 2,400 across 43 states.

The previous record for a two-year election cycle had been established in 2008, when then-candidate Barack Obama raised $748 million from donors (note that donors part, it'll be especially relevant after the next sentence). Bloomberg's spending is also more than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump needed during their campaigns in 2016.

In addition to busting the mark from 2008, Bloomberg's campaign was self-financed. In any event the man has the finances to stay rich despite this money sink (he also has the finances to uphold alleged agreements with his staff), but this is still not a record you would want to hold for just 55 delegates.