‘Complete failure’: Bloomberg humiliated after winning zero US states on Super Tuesday despite spending $559m on campaign ads

Michael Bloomberg is expected to pull out of the Democratic presidential race after failing to win in any states on Super Tuesday despite spending more than half a billion dollars of his own money on campaign advertising.

The billionaire former New York mayor’s only victory came in the tiny US territory of American Samoa, which earned him four delegates.

He is on course to win no delegates in Virginia, where he invested heavily on flooding TV with advertisements, and finish third in other key target states Texas and Tennessee.

Mr Bloomberg has spent an unprecedented $559m (£437m) on campaign ads since announcing his candidacy in November.

The former Republican, a wild card heading into the primaries, had skipped the first four contests and bombarded Super Tuesday and later voting states with ads.

He had been winning more than 15 per cent of the vote, enough to pick up some delegates, in Tennessee, Texas, Colorado, Utah, California and Arkansas, but his poll numbers slipped after he came under fire during Democratic debates for alleged sexism and racial discrimination.

Mr Bloomberg was muscled aside on Super Tuesday by a resurgent Joe Biden, who consolidated support from moderates to turn the contest into a two-horse race against Bernie Sanders.

The former vice-president pulled off his victories despite being vastly outspent on ads by Mr Bloomberg. Mr Biden’s outlay on TV, radio and digital advertising amounted to $16m (£13m) – less than any other candidate still in the race – as of 3 March.

“Bloomberg's 650 million bet looks like a complete failure at this point,” said Saagar Enjeti, a political commentator and fellow at Washington DC think thank the Hudson Institute.

The Wesleyan Media Project, which monitors campaign advertising spending, said “we have never seen a candidate spend so much money” as Mr Bloomberg, who is one of the richest people in world and has a net worth of $56bn (£44bn.)

“Imagine how much voter suppression Mike Bloomberg could combat with the $559,000,000 he's spent on campaign ads,” said Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California in Berkley and former US labour secretary.

Brian Klaas, a political scientist at University College London, said Mr Bloomberg should now “pledge his billions to helping the Democratic nominee to defeat Trump rather than his own botched candidacy”.

Mr Bloomberg's press secretary, Julie Wood, said the campaign would "reassess after tonight" whether to continue, but denied that meant he would quit the race.

But Politico cited several Bloomberg campaign sources as saying “a decision to exit the race is all but certain”.

Mr Bloomberg struck a defiant tone on Tuesday evening, telling supporters in Florida's West Palm Beach: ""As the results come in, here's what is clear: No matter how many delegates we win tonight, we have done something no one thought was possible.

"In just three months, we've gone from 1 per cent in the polls to being a contender for the Democratic nomination for president."

The Bloomberg campaign hired thousands of staffers and mounted a vigorous national tour focused on Super Tuesday states.

But he was was dogged by criticism of his past support as New York mayor of "stop and frisk," a policy that encouraged police to stop and search people and ensnared disproportionate numbers of blacks and Latinos. He was also strongly criticised in two Democratic debates for past sexist remarks.