[W]ith nine crucial nominating contests left on the presidential primary calendar, Bernie Sanders is operating with less than $6 million on hand, the smallest amount of capital his campaign has had since it ramped up its fundraising wing.
Hillary Clinton, Sanders’ chief Democratic rival, reported more than $30 million on hand in the campaign’s most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission.
Sanders has raised nearly $27 million in May, versus $46 million in April. After laying off hundreds of staffers in April, the campaign’s expenditures in May dropped significantly, by $8 million.
Detailed spending reports were not available on the Federal Election Commission website early Monday. But April’s report shows that advertising has sucked up millions. That month, the campaign paid senior strategist Tad Devine’s ad agency more than $2.2 million to create ads and $16.2 million for media buys.
Payroll in April accounted for less than $4 million in spending.
The campaign is heading into the final primary stretch, which wraps up in early June. California, in particular, presents a challenge as a huge state with an expensive advertising market. Sanders is running hardest in the Golden State, hoping for an upset win June 7.
Although the campaign once had more than 1,000 employees, about 300 remain in the states that have not yet voted. Roughly 40 staffers are on the ground in California, roughly one-third of the organizing muscle present in a number of early nominating states, including New Hampshire.
The leadership team in California has faced internal struggles over how best to win the state, and State Director Michael Ceraso left the campaign after strategy disagreements in early May.
Last week, Politico reported that additional high-level Sanders staffers have left the California operation, including his director of technology and three of the four members of his original senior leadership team.
Although Clinton has all but secured the nomination, Sanders says he remains convinced he is best suited to defeat Donald Trump in the general election and is promising to contest the Democratic National Convention in July by working to persuade superdelegates to drop their allegiance to Clinton.
“Democrats seeking a presidential nominee to lead their party to victory in November should take notice of the overwhelming preponderance of data demonstrating that Bernie Sanders is the strongest Democratic candidate to defeat Donald Trump,” said Sanders pollster Ben Tulchin on Saturday.
