Michael’s Bloomberg’s failed attempt to buy the Democratic nomination cost him more than a billion dollars, according to new Federal Election Commission filings.
The former New York City mayor spent a total of $1,019,785,659 on a 104-day campaign that saw him win a total of 55 delegates. The FEC filings show that Bloomberg’s campaign spent $176 million in March, despite getting out of the race and endorsing Joe Biden on March 4.
That means Bloomberg spent more money in March, a month in which he was a candidate for only four days, than most of his competitors did in the entire primary. Politico parsed the FEC report and found that Bloomberg reported spending more than $11 million on polling in March and more than $53 million in advertising.
Bloomberg ultimately saved himself money by failing to follow through on the promise to employ his campaign staff through November to work on behalf of the eventual Democratic nominee. Instead, some of his 2,400 staffers say they were laid off last month and allowed to keep their campaign-issued phones and laptops as severance. Bloomberg also did not form his own super-PAC, which his campaign had previously said would continue employing staffers. Instead, he transferred $18 million from his campaign to the DNC.
Bloomberg’s billion-dollar campaign dwarfs those of every other Democrat, including fellow billionaire and self-funder Tom Steyer, who spent $340 million through the end of February. Steyer dropped out of the race on February 29.
Despite the staggering amount Bloomberg spent, with a net worth north of $55 billion, he won’t be forced him to skip any meals.
