Hillary Clinton’s ‘cheapskate campaign’ spent $18million and hired hundreds of employees in first three months of presidential race to outpace rivals 

  • Official figures show Hillary has spent $18million on presidential race 
  • Campaign has already spent $6million hiring 343 staff and renting offices
  • This is despite aides emphasing race would have 'cheapskate' mentality 
  • Her team have also released a list of high-profile backers who have donated money 

By Jennifer Newton for MailOnline

Published: 22:38 EST, 15 July 2015 | Updated: 07:17 EST, 16 July 2015

Hillary Clinton has spent more than $18million and hired hundreds of staff in the first three months of the presidential race despite claims she is running a 'cheapskate campaign'.

According to new figures filed with federal regulators, Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for president has vastly outpace her rivals in campaign spending.

They show that she has spent more than $5.9million on 343 campaign staff and nearly $500,000 on renting offices, including her 80,000 square-foot Brooklyn headquarters, spending $700,000 on computers. 

According to new figures filed with federal regulators, Hillary Clinton has spent $18million so far on her presidential campaign

According to new figures filed with federal regulators, Hillary Clinton has spent $18million so far on her presidential campaign

Beyond paying for salaries and space, her campaign has also purchased lists of voters in four early primary states, paid six figures to a super PAC devoted to defending her record and spent heavily on building a digital team.

During her current campaign, Clinton's staff have empahsised a 'cheapskate' mentality and at her first national meeting in May, donors were told to buy their own lunch and fund their own transport.

Campaign aides have also said they take the bus from New York to Washington, rather than take the more expensive Acela train.

During her current campaign, Clinton's staff have empahsised a 'cheapskate' mentality and at her first national meeting in May, donors were told to buy their own lunch

During her current campaign, Clinton's staff have empahsised a 'cheapskate' mentality and at her first national meeting in May, donors were told to buy their own lunch

Her team have also released a list of high-profile backers, who have raised more than $100,000 for her primary bid.

Among them are her most ardent financial backers, including Hollywood media mogul Haim Saban, wealthy California investor Susie Tompkins Buell and Las Vegas publisher Brian Greenspun.

She also successfully courted some of Obama's biggest backers, including New York financiers Marc Lasry, Charles Myers and Blair Effron.

Others included former Clinton aides like Minyon Moore, Tom Nides and Lisa Caputo, former Indiana Seator. Evan Bayh, and current members of Congress like Jim Himes of Connecticut and Grace Meng of New York.

The outlay is nearly four times what Clinton spent in the first three months of her last presidential campaign, when she faced a far more competitive primary race against then-Senator Barack Obama.

During that 2008 campaign, Clinton and her team faced charges from donors that they were wasting money on ineffective strategic choices — like spending nearly $100,000 for party platters and groceries before the Iowa caucus, a contest she lost.

By comparison, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has fueled an insurgent challenge to Clinton with small donations.

He pulled in more than $15.2 million through the end of June, and three-quarters of his donations were $200 or less.

 

Comments (71)

Share what you think

 View all

The comments below have not been moderated.

 View all

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Add your comment

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.

Who is this week's top commenter? Find out now