Hillary Clinton’s failed bid for the presidency reportedly cost more than $1 billion, according to records.
Clinton and her supporters spent $1.2 billion for the campaign, about two times as much as President-elect Donald Trump’s bid, the New York Post reported Friday. Meanwhile, Trump and his supporters spent about $600 million, the Post reported.
During the final weeks of the campaign, starting from Oct. 20, Trump spent $94.5 million, as compared with Clinton’s $131.8 million, according to The Associated Press, citing reports filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. After the election, Clinton has $839,000 in her coffers while Trump has $7.6 million, the report said.
Trump used $66 million of his own money---after saying he would as much as $100 million of his own money during the campaign season. And as Newsweek reported, Trump’s campaign this week said he sold off his entire stock portfolio in June---worth approximately $40 million.
Brad Parscale, Trump’s digital director, said that some strategic last-minute investments helped him win in swing states. In the final few days of the campaign ahead of Election Day, his team spent about $5 million in digital ads targeting critical battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida---all states Trump won by a slim margin.
“You think, what if we hadn’t spent that?” Parscale told the NY Post. “We might not have won.”
Months ago, Trump balked at the idea of a candidate spending $1 billion to have a shot at winning the presidency. “There’s no reason to raise that,” Trump said in an attempt to downplay skeptics.
The president-elect has continued raising millions of dollars for his campaign since the Nov. 8 election. That money is coming in mostly through purchased merchandise such as hats and ornaments and is paying for Trump’s victory tour, which took him to Iowa on Thursday, AP reported.
In 2012, President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney and their respective supporters spent more than $2 billion. Romney spent $1.019 billion, while the president spent $1.123 billion.
