Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his allied super PAC are amassing a significant war chest as they take on the expensive task of mounting an outsider bid, but new campaign fundraising reports filed Wednesday show the endeavor is already proving costly.
Kennedy’s campaign committee raised $7 million over the last three months of 2023, new Federal Election Commission reports show, a significant figure that amounts to more than Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis raised over that period (when DeSantis was still an active candidate). But Kennedy spent $7.7 million, which was more than he brought in, putting his cash reserves at $5.4 million by the close of the year.
The super PAC supporting him, American Values, raised $18.5 million in the last six months of 2023 and spent $13.4 million. The vast majority of that spending went to refund one donor, with other expenses for things like consulting and ballot access work. The group closed 2023 with $14.8 million banked away.
Kennedy initially ran for president as a Democrat, but in October he announced he would instead mount an uphill bid as an independent instead of a long-shot attempt to defeat President Joe Biden in the primaries.
The campaign spent $1.1 million on salaries during the last three months of the year. Amaryllis Kennedy, the candidate’s daughter-in-law and campaign manager, received $54,000 over the last three months of the year, the report shows. Jackson Hines, “a travel aide and body man” for Kennedy who the campaign confirmed to NBC News is also the candidate’s nephew, made $24,000 over the same period.
The FEC sent Kennedy’s campaign a letter asking for more information about its payments to Kennedy family members this month, warning that employees needed to be paid a fair market rate. The Kennedy campaign replied 10 days later defending the work of Hines and Amaryllis Kennedy, arguing that “though Amaryllis and Jackson are family members of the candidate by marriage, their role is based on the functional business needs of the campaign and the work that they perform in the capacity of their role.”