RFK Jr. keeps burning through cash
The campaign reported just $6.4 million cash on hand at the end of May.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s longshot presidential campaign spent two and a half times more than it raised in May, the latest sign of the independent candidate’s cash crunch at a pivotal moment in the race.
His campaign reported just $6.4 million cash on hand at the end of the month, down from $10 million the previous month. That total — and the likelihood that he will not qualify for the first presidential debate next week — represents a major challenge for Kennedy as he continues to work to gain ballot access across the country.
Kennedy has proven to be one of the strongest third-party candidates in a generation in polls. But weak fundraising threatens to undermine his ability to seriously challenge, or serve as a spoiler for, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
The latest numbers highlight how Kennedy has failed to expand his fundraising base as the general election looms. His running mate, lawyer Nicole Shanahan, could be the campaign’s biggest financial lifeline. But while she has heavily supported the campaign previously, she didn’t put more money in last month.
The $2.5 million Kennedy’s campaign reported raising in May was down from what Kennedy received from donors the previous month, even excluding the $8 million Shanahan put in then. And it was the campaign’s second consecutive month with less than $900,000 in contributions from donors giving less than $200 — a sign that grassroots fundraising, which once seemed like somewhat of a strength of Kennedy’s — has not taken off.
The campaign also reported spending $6.3 million, while netting $1.4 million in new debt — all owed to Gavin de Becker and Associates, a security firm whose principal, De Becker, also has a financial relationship with a Kennedy-backing super PAC.
But by far the biggest campaign expense in May was $2.77 million paid to Accelevate 2020, a firm that works on ballot access. The independent candidate has officially qualified for the ballot in a handful of states and has submitted signatures or petitions in roughly a dozen more.