Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Bloomberg’s disastrous presidential run cost him $1bn over four months, according to finance filing

New York City’s former mayor spent $176 million in March alone

James Crump
Tuesday 21 April 2020 11:49 EDT
Comments
Bloomberg campaign video taunts Donald Trump

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Michael Bloomberg spent more than $1 billion (£813m) during 104 days of his presidential campaign, it has been revealed.

A Federal Election Commission filing from Monday, showed that the former mayor spent over $1 billion in less than four months.

Mr Bloomberg had a staff of more than 2,400 to help him in his presidential bid, according to ABC.

Another billionaire, Tom Steyer, worth approximately $1.6 billion (£1.3bn), also ran for the Democratic nomination, but only spent $340 million (£276.6m) on his campaign.

The former mayor of New York City began his campaign to be the 2020 Democratic nominee for president, in November, but dropped out in March.

Mr Bloomberg decided not to compete in the states of Iowa and New Hampshire and officially started competing for the nomination on Super Tuesday, where 14 states had primaries and American Samoa held their caucus.

He only won 55 delegates on the day, but did win the American Samoa Caucus.

The filing shows that he spent $176 million (£143m) in March alone, despite dropping out of the race on 4 March, the day after Super Tuesday.

Mr Bloomberg caused outrage among his staff last month, after he broke his promise to keep his campaign team employed until the November election.

Instead of keeping his staff on to campaign for the chosen Democratic nominee, Mr Bloomberg transferred $18 million (£14.6m) to the Democratic National Committee.

Some campaign organisers filed lawsuits against the former mayor and the Republican party argued his donation broke campaign finance rules.

Former vice president Joe Biden, who is the presumptive Democratic nominee, has yet to file his campaign finances for March.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in