Bloomberg spent over $500 million on television and radio ads alone during his presidential bid. CNBC's Robert Frank reports.
He broke the bank, but he couldn’t bring home the bacon.
After dumping more than $500 million of his own fortune into the 2020 election, Mike Bloomberg, who’s worth around $60 billion, failed to make a dent on Super Tuesday, the first time he appeared on any ballot in the 2020 Democratic primary race.
He managed to clinch a victory only in the tiny U.S. territory of American Samoa, receiving at least four delegates there, according to an NBC News projection.
Following the embarrassing Super Tuesday results, Bloomberg dropped out of the race and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden.
“Three months ago, I entered the race for President to defeat Donald Trump. Today, I am leaving the race for the same reason: to defeat Donald Trump — because it is clear to me that staying in would make achieving that goal more difficult,” the former New York mayor said in a statement.
“I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it. After yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden,” Bloomberg said.
Democratic strategist Brad Bannon of polling and consulting firm Bannon Communications Research said Biden will certainly benefit from the campaign withdrawal of Bloomberg as well as that of former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
“With Bloomberg, Mayor Pete and Amy Klobuchar out of the race, it clears the path for Joe Biden to capture all of the moderate conservative votes, as well as all the black votes in the Democratic primary,” Bannon said.
Bloomberg was a late entrant in the race, announcing his campaign in November, which forced him to skip the first four nominating contests and instead appeal to voters in the 14 states and the territory of American Samoa up for grabs in the Super Tuesday primaries.
The billionaire businessman spent liberally in hopes of catching up with front-runners Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who had already had months to build out their campaigns ahead of Bloomberg’s entry. Bloomberg put most of his energy into preparing for Super Tuesday, coupling his hefty ad spend with a huge staff, hiring 500 staffers in more than 30 states in January ahead of the nominating contests.
The efforts seemed to pay off in national polls, where he secured a third-place spot in recent weeks, behind only Biden and Sanders, according to a Real Clear Politics national polling average. He even started gaining traction in states including Florida and Texas, where he led Biden in some polls.
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