In bid to make debate, Suarez paid $1 donors $20 each. Here’s how much went down the drain
In his failed attempt to qualify for the first Republican presidential primary debate in August, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez resorted to a number of gimmicks to boost his support, raffling off tickets to see soccer legend Lionel Messi’s debut for Inter Miami and offering $20 gift cards to donors who gave at least $1.
A new campaign filing that covers spending from July through September spells out how much those efforts cost.
Suarez’s aborted presidential campaign disclosed that it spent just over $400,000 on what was labeled “gift card redemption services,” accounting for nearly 30% of the campaign’s expenditures in that time period. He also spent just over $5,000 on event tickets, which included $780 paid to Inter Miami and $4,350 spent on the ticket resale site Stubhub. He spent another $25,000 on gifts for supporters.
Under the debate qualification rules set forth by the Republican National Committee, candidates vying for a spot on the debate stage in Milwaukee needed to have received donations from at least 40,000 individual donors and gotten at least 1% support in one of a number of approved pre-debate polls.
Suarez ultimately didn’t qualify for the Aug. 23 debate and dropped out of the race six days later.
Suarez’s campaign reported that it raised just under $480,000 from July through September, with at least 60% of that cash coming from Florida. All told, the short-lived campaign raised nearly $1.43 million since Suarez entered the race in mid-June and spent more than $1.36 million.
The Suarez campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.
