Buttigieg Spent over $75 Million on His Failed Presidential Campaign
Mayor Pete drops out of Democratic nomination race after dropping millions on run
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Pete Buttigieg spent over $75 million on his failed Democratic presidential nomination campaign, according to federal election records.
Former South Bend Mayor Buttigieg spent $74,859,527 on his campaign, the finance report filed on January 30 shows, according to Open Secrets.
Ahead of the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, the candidate likely spent millions more, as well as Nevada and South Carolina before announcing he was dropping out of the race on March 1.
In January, the Buttigieg campaign raised six million dollars through fundraising, with another four million since winning the Iowa caucus in February.
“Tonight, I am making the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency,” Buttigieg told supports in South Bend, Indiana, on Sunday.
Buttigieg was a successful fundraiser, raking in a total of $81,490,817 as of January, often from wealthy donors, earning him disdain from some of his fellow Democrat candidates.
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According to Breitbart, Buttigieg greatly outspent other failed presidential candidates although they dropped out earlier in the race.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) spent over $25 million on her failed presidential campaign, and former Congressman Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) spent about $14 million on his attempt to win the presidency.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) spent over $14 million.
Billionaire Tom Steyer, who announced his decision to drop out on Saturday, easily outspent Buttigieg by spending $252 million.
Just moments after Buttigieg told supporters he's ending his presidential campaign Sunday, President Donald Trump said it reflected the growing pressure among more moderate Democrats to consolidate in order to blunt the rise of socialist candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
"Pete Buttigieg is OUT. All of his SuperTuesday votes will to Sleepy Joe Biden," Trump tweeted.
"Great timing. This is the REAL beginning of the Dems taking Bernie out of play - NO NOMINATION, AGAIN!"
Pete Buttigieg is OUT. All of his SuperTuesday votes will go to Sleepy Joe Biden. Great timing. This is the REAL beginning of the Dems taking Bernie out of play - NO NOMINATION, AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2020
Buttigieg previously had said Sanders was too liberal to be elected, according to Fox News.
Buttigieg's withdrawal came just days before voters in 14 states are set to head to the polls on Super Tuesday, where one-third of all delegates for the nomination will be at stake.
His exit likely will harm front-runner Sanders by providing a coalescing boost to more moderate candidates, as Buttigieg had gone on the offensive against the Vermont senator and sought to appeal to the centrist base of the party.
Sanders’ delegate lead over Joe Biden has shrunk from 30 to 8 after Biden’s big win in the South Carolina primary.
With 54 delegates at stake in South Carolina, the former vice president picked up 35 to Sanders’ 13, according to The Associated Press's delegate count.
Six delegates remained to be allocated pending final vote totals.
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Heading into key Super Tuesday contests, Sanders has led the overall race for delegates with 58 while Biden had 50.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) had 8 and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) had 7.
It takes 1,991 delegates to win.
Buttigieg, the first openly gay candidate to seriously contend for the presidency, tried to make the case that his party thrived when it embraced candidates who offered generational change.
Last year, the president, known for giving nicknames to his political rivals, compared Buttigieg to the longtime mascot for Mad magazine.
“Alfred E. Neuman cannot become president of the United States,” the president said, referring to the decades-old Mad character.
