Jeb Bush Spent $400,000 In Personal Funds During His Campaign’s Last Days?

It has now been weeks since Jeb Bush suspended his campaign, and reports are flying about his spending habits towards the end of his run. Like many of his failed presidential candidate predecessors, Bush seems to have made some fruitless financial decisions during his campaign.

According to reports, Jeb kept his campaign afloat by contributing a $250,000 personal loan. CBS News reported that even this loan was “barely enough to keep the campaign from plunging into debt.”

In February, which was to be the last month of his campaign, Jeb Bush succeeded in raising approximately $1 million in funds in order to scrape by.

“[Bush] contributed almost $157,000 of his own money, separate from the loan,” according to Gawker. “When he dropped out, on February 20, the campaign had $465,000 cash in hand—barely more than the $452,000 in debt it still owed. Thank goodness the former governor was around to bail himself out!”

“Among his eleventh-hour backers were Steve Wynn, the casino tycoon; megadonor Foster Friess; Shell oil executive Marvin Odum; Louis Rohl, head of a California luxury fixture seller; Jose Mallea, a consultant to the campaign and a former aide in Bush’s brother’s administration; and Richard L. Wyatt, a litigator at Hunton & Williams in Washington.”

“Chris Christie’s campaign finished the month with $287,000 cash on hand and $485,650 in debt after raising $419,600 and spending $874,000 in February, according to its FEC report,” Politico also reported.

Ultimately, Jeb Bush’s campaign cost more than they had in hand, especially towards the end. In February alone, the campaign cost over $3 million, according to The Washington Post. They claim that, all together, Bush personally invested over $400,000 in the last days of his run as a presidential candidate.

“In the last weeks of his flagging presidential bid, former Florida governor Jeb Bush loaned or gave his campaign nearly $407,000 as it struggled to pay its bills. New Federal Election Commission filings show that Bush’s campaign spent $3.6 million last month before he dropped out Feb. 20 — raising just $1.18 million in the same period. A large share of the money came from the candidate himself, who gave his campaign $56,983.50 on Feb. 1. The next day, he loaned the campaign $250,000. And on Feb. 16, four days before the South Carolina primary, he gave an additional $100,000.”

Of course, Jeb Bush is not the first to pour personal funds into a dying campaign just to end up in debt. Many of his ex-candidate forbears have had the same problem.Chris Christie himself (who has now endorsed Donald Trump, as reported by The Inquisitr) attempted to preserve his flagging candidacy in early February.”New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s report shows he raised about $420,000 in February. The Republican suspended his campaign Feb. 9, after the New Hampshire primary,” CBS News reported. “Christie’s campaign ended with roughly $200,000 more in debts than available cash. Other candidates – current and former – are due to file reports by midnight Sunday.”