Dec 12, 2019 - Economy

Andrew Yang: Tom Steyer, Michael Bloomberg's enormous ad buys are a "dud"

Marisa Fernandez

Democratic candidate Andrew Yang noted that the heavy ad spend from his fellow 2020 contenders, billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, reflects "a very poor track record," of prior self-funded candidates, but stopped short of outright criticizing them, Yahoo reports.

The big picture: The two billionaires in the race have collectively spent more than $181 million in TV ads so far. The other Democratic candidates have spent about $28 million combined, according to data consulting company Kantar.

What Yang is saying:

"This has been demonstrated again and again — self-funded candidates have a very poor track record. I do not think this cycle is running any differently.”
“I’m less upset than some of the other candidates at Tom and Mike spending all this money because I think it’s going to be a dud."
"So I think this is something of a political science experiment, but I’m not concerned about either of them buying the election.”

Background: Other Democratic candidates have attacked the billionaires, saying they're buying their way into the race.

Julián Castro in a fundraising email wrote: “Ten months in Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is jumping in the race to use his personal fortune to try and buy the nomination. We don’t need another ego-driven billionaire flooding the airwaves. We know your support isn’t for sale.”
Sen. Cory Booker: "There are more billionaires than black people who’ve made the December debate stage — that’s a problem."

Go deeper: Trump and Buttigieg battle for young voters with Snapchat ads

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Andrew Yang: Tom Steyer, Michael Bloomberg's enormous ad buys are a "dud"

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