Bloomberg's campaign spent over $180 million during his first month in the 2020 race
- Mike Bloomberg's catch-up presidential campaign spent a colossal amount in the final quarter of 2019 in his bid to surpass Democratic rivals.
- Bloomberg's campaign spent over $180 million at the end of 2019, according to a newly released Federal Election Commission filing. The campaign put over $11 million toward its data company, Hawkfish.
- He launched his bid for president at the end of November, several months after his fellow candidates joined the field, so his campaign was only active for about a month in the three-month period.
Mike Bloomberg's catch-up presidential campaign spent a colossal amount in the final quarter of 2019 in his bid to surpass Democratic rivals in the race to take on President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg's campaign spent over $180 million during the period, according to a Federal Election Commission filing released Friday.
He launched his bid for president at the end of November, several months after his fellow candidates joined the field, so his campaign was active for only about a month in the three-month period. Bloomberg spent more during that month than any of his individual Democratic rivals have raised in total during the cycle.
The massive expenditure amount went toward TV ads, field staff and his technology firm, Hawkfish. The record shows Bloomberg's campaign spent over $11 million on the digital firm. The company has become the primary digital ad agency for Bloomberg's operation.
Beyond his campaign's enormous spending spree, the amount the billionaire former New York mayor has given directly to his campaign shows why he will likely be able to stay in the race for a long time, regardless of where he stands in the polls. The record shows Bloomberg contributed over $200 million to his campaign. His campaign had $11 million on hand going into the year 2020.
Bloombeg's campaign said their first filing shows they have the resources to take on Trump.
"Our first month's filing represents a down payment and commitment in all 50 states to defeat Donald Trump, and it shows we have the resources and plan necessary to take him on," Bloomberg's campaign manager, Kevin Sheekey, said in a statement.
It is likely he will keep giving more money to his campaign. Bloomberg has sworn off asking for donations, even though that had disqualified him from debates. He could still make the debate stage in Nevada before the caucuses in that state in February, due to new guidelines released by the Democratic National Committee. The Democratic National Committee had required primary contenders to reach a certain polling and donation threshold to qualify for the debates.
With all the money he's spent, Bloomberg has surged into fourth place and moved ahead of former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average. He's still behind former Vice President Joe Biden, and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Bloomberg, whose net worth is just over $60 billion, has opted to skip the four early states primary and caucus states and has instead put his resources toward delegate-rich primaries, including those taking place on Super Tuesday, such as California, Texas and North Carolina.
He's also been dominating in the digital platforms with ads, overtaking Trump himself in Google investments.
Bloomberg's presence on air and online seems to have had an effect on Trump, who has lashed out on Twitter against him.