Sen. Tim Scott's presidential campaign is spending more money than it's raising, according to campaign finance filings.
Scott is the only Republican candidate who has outspent his fundraising totals, according to Axios, spending 109% of his campaign chest. The next closest is Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), who has spent 69%. The Republican front-runner, former President Donald Trump, has only spent 37% of his war chest.
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Scott has become one of the biggest spenders and fundraisers of the Republican primary, dropping millions on television ads in Iowa and New Hampshire to try and get a leg up on the competition in key early states. Leftover finances from his Senate campaign have also helped him still have $21 million cash on hand by the end of June, according to Politico.
Scott's spending has been linked to mysterious companies with no online presence, according to the New York Times. The campaign has sent roughly $5.3 million to the companies that have no previous work in campaign finance and sport addresses that lead to a Staples in a mall. They were only set up months before Scott launched his campaign.
A Scott campaign spokesman told the Washington Examiner the money spent on independent groups and contractors who provide services ranging from advertisements to travel is clearly laid out in Federal Election Commission reports.
“These are independent companies we contract with to provide services to the campaign including managing multiple consultants," Matt Gorman, a senior communications adviser for Scott's campaign, in a statement to the New York Times. "Payments to those companies are disclosed like all others on our F.E.C. report.”
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Scott's big spending hasn't reflected a rise in national polls, but a campaign spokesman told the Washington Examiner that is because Scott has focused his spending on ads in Iowa and New Hampshire almost exclusively. The spending has paid off, according to the spokesman, who noted Scott has gained momentum in Iowa since he entered the race, moving from polling in the single digits to competing with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL)
However, momentum in early states hasn't translated to national polls yet. According to an early August Reuters/Ipsos poll, he was polling at just 2%, 45 percentage points behind the front-runner. He's also lagging behind DeSantis (R-FL), former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.