Bloomberg's last FEC filing shows he spent nearly $1 billion on his failed presidential run

(Image credit: Yana Paskova/Getty Images)

published 20 March 2020

Michael Bloomberg couldn't buy himself the presidency, but he sure as heck tried.

According to a Federal Election Commission filing made public Friday, the former New York City mayor transferred $936,225,041 of his own money to his campaign account throughout his presidential run. His campaign ended up spending $875,369,840 of that money, revealing an unprecedented amount of individual spending for a campaign that only lasted about three months.

Bloomberg took no money from individual contributors during his quest for the Democratic nomination. But as Friday reports indicated and Bloomberg's campaign later confirmed, Bloomberg decided to reverse his earlier campaign promise to pay his staffers through election day even if he dropped out. Instead of redirecting them to propel former Vice President Joe Biden to the nomination and presidency, Bloomberg's campaign is surpassing individual donor limits and shifting $18 million to the DNC instead.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.