In a losing effort, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run cost her and her supporters a record $1.2 billion – doubling the amount her victorious Republican opponent Donald Trump spent.

Despite accumulating more funding than any other presidential candidate in the history of the United States, the Democratic challenger fell considerably short of beating her challenger in the Electoral College.

Defying the odds, President-elect Donald Trump proved countless media polls wrong and proved himself right by cashing in on his assurance that he did not need to spend or raise $1 billion or more to land himself in the White House. When all the receipts were counted, the latest records show that the former GOP presidential nominee breezed to victory with a cool $600 million – half as much as the highly favored Clinton.

Heading down the home $tretch

During the final weeks before election day, the expenditure for the Clinton campaign reached $131.8 million. She ended up with approximately $839,000 on hand – a figure tabulated on November 28.

The amount running through the hands of Trump’s presidential campaign was significantly different.

“Team Trump spent $94.5 million in the home stretch – from October 20 to November 28 – and had $7.6 million left,” Breitbart reported. “The figures include all spending by the campaigns, PACs and party committees.”

Self- and GOP-funded

Not fully relying on donors, Trump made $66 million in contributions to his own campaign. He originally projected spending $100 million out of his own funds, but ended up winning his White House run with $34 million more in his pocket than he anticipated.

Even though the 70-year-old conservative considerably helped his cause with his own cash, a major player on his team contends that the turnaround in the final weeks heading into the election pushed him over the top.

Cutting it closer

According to the billionaire’s digital director, Brad Parscale, strategic last-minute investments were responsible for giving the Trump team the boost it needed to overcome the front-running Clinton.

He indicated that approximately $5 million was spent by the Trump campaign and the Republican Party in a digital advertising push called “get-out-the-vote.” The critical crusade for more votes spanned the crucial swing states of Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin during the final few days leading up to the election.

Parscale insisted that the digital effort proved to be an essential step to victory, boosting vote counts in pivotal states that turned out red by just a sliver.

“You think, what if we hadn’t spent that?” Parscale ruminated. “We might not have won.”

Confident when asked back in June what he thought about skeptics contending that he had to spend $1 billion in order to make beating Clinton a possibility, Trump respectfully disagreed.

“There’s no reason to raise that,” Trump shot back.

The savvy businessman impressed the point that purchasing publicity was not an issue for him.

“I just don’t think I need nearly as much money as other people need because I get so much publicity,” Trump insisted. “I get so many invitations to be on television. I get so many interviews – if I want them.”

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Copyright American Family News. Reprinted with permission.

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