When it comes to campaign money, a lot of people are asking about Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, the billionaires whose self-funded their presidential campaigns. Is this allowed? How does their spending compare to other candidates? Is this healthy for democracy? The Post's campaign money reporter Michelle Ye Hee Lee explains how billionaires changed the game as Democratic presidential candidates in 2020.

For years, Bloomberg and Steyer have been two of the biggest political donors in the country. But this year, they each used their immense wealth to run for the Democratic presidential nomination. You may think that all billionaires are the same — that they all just have boatloads of money. But not all billionaires are created equal. Tom Steyer, a former hedge fund investor, had an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion in 2019. But Bloomberg is a multi-billionaire: with a net worth between of $55 billion and 60 billion dollars. On any given day, he’s somewhere between the 9th or the 12th wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes.

Bloomberg is the biggest self-funded candidate in U.S. history. Steyer is a close second. And yes, this is allowed. A pattern of wealthy donors influencing elections has been building since 2010. You can watch our earlier videos in this series to learn more about how wealthy donors can spend unlimited amounts on politics, often while masking their identities.

Unlike their rivals, these Democratic presidential candidates didn’t have to spend time trying to motivate big donors or grassroots movements to ignite their campaign: they could afford to fund their own campaigns for months at a time. Read more: [ Ссылка ]. Subscribe to The Washington Post on YouTube: [ Ссылка ]

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