WASHINGTON — 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.”
As an independent candidate, Kennedy has had to mount a massive operation aimed at gaining ballot access in each state, an expensive task. His fundraising report shows that on top of his staff, he has spent significant chunks of cash on consulting, media production, printing, digital media and events.
Kennedy’s fourth-quarter filings also show that his campaign spent more than $500,000 on security services. His campaign has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration over the decision not to grant him Secret Service protection, a decision that’s up to the homeland security secretary and depends on consultations with Congress. In October, a man was arrested on suspicion of trespassing at Kennedy’s home and detained by private security. Weeks before, a man with a loaded gun was arrested outside one of Kennedy’s campaign events in Los Angeles.
The head of the company that provides Kennedy with security services — author and security specialist Gavin de Becker — also appeared to be among the largest donors to a super PAC affiliated with Kennedy, American Values 2024.
But while a new report said de Becker donated $5.5 million to the super PAC in the second half of 2023 (a total of $10 million over the election cycle), a further examination of the report shows that the group refunded him $9.65 million in July and November. Neither American Values nor de Becker’s company responded to requests for comment about the large donation and the subsequent refund.
A spokesperson for the super PAC said the donation was "bridge funding" to provide the group with money when needed.
"When not needed during some particular period, we returned some money to him," the statement said. "He continues to provide bridge funding, for example, $4 million he is donating on February 15."
The super PAC’s top donor remains investor Timothy Mellon, a Republican megadonor who in 2020 gave $20 million supporting former President Donald Trump. Mellon gave the pro-Kennedy super PAC $10 million in the second half of 2023.
The only other seven-figure donor to the super PAC was Leila Centner of Miami Beach, Florida, who gave $1 million. The address associated with the donation matched that of the David and Leila Centner Family Foundation, named for the co-founders of Centner Academy in Miami, a private elementary and secondary school. The school made national news in 2021 when it announced it wouldn't hire anyone who had been vaccinated against Covid-19 "until further information is known" despite repeated reassurances from federal health officials that the vaccines were broadly safe. Last year, Kennedy, who spent about eight years helming a prominent anti-vaccine organization, visited the school.
Centner Academy did not reply to a request to comment about the donation.
