Final Results Are In: Bloomberg Actually Spent 10x More on Campaign Than Biden Has so Far
As political spending binges go, it was a whopper.
Former Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent $176,190,429.50 in the month of March, according to a Federal Election Committee filing, even though he was only in the race for four days last month.
That spending spree brought Bloomberg’s total spending in his 104-day attempt to become president past $1 billion to $1,051,783,859.43, according to the filing.
For the sake of comparison, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont spent $198,548,002.41 through the end of March on his campaign, according to his filing for March.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who emerged as the party’s nominees, has not released his March spending report, but as of the end of February had spent almost $108,403,971.91, according to the FEC — about 10 times less than Bloomberg.
Bloomberg, a billionaire who dipped into his own piggy bank to finance his campaign, announced in late November he was running for president. Unlike candidates who spent months traveling early primary states trying to boost name recognition and support, Bloomberg counted on a massive media advertising blitz to get his message across.
Forbes estimated that Bloomberg’s overall worth is $55.2 billion.
The strategy was largely geared toward Super Tuesday in March, but Bloomberg failed to post major victories, winning only the contest in American Samoa, according to The New York Times. Bloomberg dropped out of the race the next day.
Bloomberg has been sued by some campaign staff, according to the New York Post.
The former New York City mayor’s campaign had originally lured staffers by promising they would be paid through November regardless of whether he won the Democratic presidential nomination. That later morphed into the hope that some could transition to a well-funded Super PAC Bloomberg said he would create.
Bloomberg later decided to give $18 million to the Democratic National Committee, which meant his campaign staff all lost their jobs.
A Bloomberg campaign spokesperson said the “vast majority” of former staffers can get new jobs with the DNC or parties in various states, “which would not have happened without this campaign’s transfer of funds,” according to Forbes.
“[T]hroughout our campaign, we were proud to pay our staff wages and benefits that were much more generous than any other campaign this year. Staff worked 39 days on average, but they were also given several weeks of severance,” the spokesman said.
Since the campaign ended, Bloomberg has been largely flying under the radar.
That led to him being taken to task by the website The Daily Beast, which published a commentary piece by senior opinion editor Harry Siegel headlined, “Where’s Mike Bloomberg? Billionaire Bails After Vanity Run Ends.”
However, a Bloomberg representative said the billionaire will still be fighting against President Donald Trump’s re-election, according to Newsweek.
“We’re looking at how to best support Democratic victories up and down the ballot in November, just as Mike Bloomberg has done in previous cycles. At the moment Mike has made tackling the COVID-19 crisis a priority by convening local leaders, and providing support for the WHO, Johns Hopkins University, and local relief efforts,” the representative said.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
