Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign raised $2.6 million in May and had just over $6.4 million in cash on hand at the end of the month, according to new filings, a paltry sum compared to the fundraising juggernauts behind his two major competitors.
Kennedy’s independent presidential bid announced the tepid fundraising haul in Federal Election Commission filings Wednesday. The documents show his team spent $6.3 million in May as he worked to gain access to ballots around the country and appear at next week’s presidential debate on CNN.
About $2.7 million of that figure went to a consulting firm that specializes in ballot access.
Those efforts appeared to be in vain on Wednesday before a midnight deadline, with the network requiring candidates to appear on enough ballots to have a shot at winning the White House, as well as receive at least 15% in four national polls.
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The debate is scheduled to take place in Atlanta on June 27.
His fundraising sum is far below the mammoth hauls in recent months by President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, whose team claimed he raised more than $141 million in May alone alongside the RNC on the heels of the guilty verdict in his New York hush money trial.
Biden, too, has been pulling in huge numbers. He raised some $30 million during a Hollywood fundraiser last weekend that included appearances from former President Barack Obama, George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
Kennedy has heavily relied on his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, for campaign cash. Shanahan has a personal fortune estimated around $1 billion following her divorce from Google co-founder Sergey Brin. She contributed $8 million of her own money in April, adding to millions she had already thrown behind his bid.
The New York Times notes she could jolt the Kennedy bid at any time with her own wealth as campaign finance laws do not prohibit people from donating to their own campaign.
