Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent about $1 billion on his own 100-day presidential campaign, and has promised to put his vast fortune to use unseating President Donald Trump in November.
The problem, however, is that some Democrats are wondering where Bloomberg’s money is, Fox News reported. Bloomberg repeatedly promised to use his money to help Democrats win in November.
“Mike Bloomberg is either going to be the nominee or the most important person supporting the Democratic nominee for president,” Bloomberg’s campaign manager Kevin Sheekey told NBC News earlier this year. “He is dedicated to getting Trump out of the White House.”
Bloomberg burned through money during his embarrassingly short run for president, which netted him just 55 pledged delegates, The Daily Wire previously reported. He then made numerous promises that have so far gone unfulfilled, such as paying staffers through November with full health benefits even if he dropped out. Bloomberg dropped that promise shortly after announcing he would no longer seek the presidency.
As Fox reported, many Democrats “were under the impression that, after Bloomberg exited the presidential race, he would keep his massive campaign apparatus filled with experienced political operatives and simply change the name on the signs to whoever the eventual nominee was, while also helping out down the ballot.”
That didn’t happen, though Bloomberg did give the largest transfer between political committees ever recorded – $18 million. As Fox noted, however, that wouldn’t be enough to hurt Trump’s chances.
President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager Jim Messina told NPR that he interpreted Bloomberg’s pledge to defeat Trump to mean helping Democrats other than himself if he didn’t get the nomination.
“It meant spending about a billion dollars,” Messina told the outlet. “It meant making sure that Donald Trump did not have the typical incumbent advantage on finance, and it meant helping us catch up in a couple places where Trump was well ahead of us, which was digital and data.”
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, however, said Bloomberg intends to follow through on his promise, and that it’s not about a specific amount of money. NPR reported that Bloomberg has given $350 million to Democrats in the 2020 election, including:
$275 million in anti-Trump ads during his primary campaign.
$35 million for a digital and data platform he gives to Democratic campaigns at cost.
$18 million transferred from his campaign to the Democratic Party.
$10 million to House Majority PAC, the lead outside group backing House Democrats.
$5 million to Fair Fight, the voting rights group led by Stacey Abrams.
$2 million to Collective Future, focused on registering Black voters in key states.
$2 million to Swing Left, which supports Democratic volunteer efforts.
$500,000 to Voto Latino, focused on registering young Latino and Hispanic voters.
As one can see, the vast majority of the money was spent during his own campaign in an effort to boost himself.