Former New York City mayor and failed 2020 presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has spent almost $1 billion of his own fortune on this year's election campaign, failing to make any major gains in the ongoing Democratic primaries, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
A filing by the FEC released Friday indicates Bloomberg wasted $935,360,675.56 on his failed presidential campaign.
Bloomberg announced his presidential bid relatively late - in November 2019, when most of the candidates had already entered the race. He also skipped the first key Democratic primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina in order to focus, as he said, on Super Tuesday, when 14 states, including the delegate-rich California, held primaries.
During his short election campaign, Bloomberg was accused by both sides - Democrats and Republicans - of literally "buying" the election with enormous sums of funding. The billionaire had even set a Super Bowl advertising record by airing seven times as many TV commercials as the previous biggest-spender Mitt Romney, who ran in 2008, an analysis revealed. It was also the first time that a candidate had aired a national ad.
His overall contribution to the election campaign amounts to more than any national party could afford to spend within its typical budget, according to Fox News.
Bloomberg's campaign essentially ended after his devastating performance in the Nevada debate. In total, the billionaire only managed to secure 61 pledged delegates out of some 2,000 needed to win the nomination. He officially withdrew from the race after the poor performance on Super Tuesday, which had been the focal point of his campaign strategy, to endorse Biden on 4 March.
The ex-NYC mayor also vowed to provide financial support to the future Democratic nominee. His own fortune is estimated at more than $60 billion.
