Mike Gravel’s long-shot Democratic presidential campaign, which is mainly run by teenagers, says the end is near.
Although the exact date for the 89-year-old to officially end the presidential campaign was not specified, the verified Twitter account for Gravel said on Friday that the campaign is “nearing its conclusion” and asked for suggestions about where to donate left-over campaign funds.
The campaign is nearing its conclusion, and we’re wondering where to donate the left-over funds. (Flint is a great cause but doesn’t seem to be in the greatest need at the moment.) Any thoughts on the most deserving charity? Should we just stick to Flint?
— Sen. Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) July 5, 2019
A follow-up tweet stressed the campaign is not yet over and are still trying to qualify for the July primary debate, but “we’ve always planned to have it end sometime in the next month or so.”
Gravel told the Washington Examiner they are about 10,000 donors short of the 65,000 that is required to appear on stage. Gravel added if he does not qualify, the campaign will pivot to “communications campaign” with which he will still advocate for his preferred issues. Gravel plans on officially ending campaign towards the fall, when the teens working for him will go back to school.
we should note that the campaign is not over yet, we’re still trying to qualify, but we’ve always planned to have it end sometime in the next month or so
— Sen. Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) July 6, 2019
Gravel’s Twitter account said they expect somewhere between $100k and $150k to be left over.
When Gravel did not qualify for the first debate in June, he told the Washington Examiner he was disappointed but would continue to campaign and try to qualify for the next set of debates.
“Looks like the campaign run by teens won’t be making it to the convention,” Gravel’s account tweeted.
Gravel served as one of Alaska’s senators from 1969 to 1981 and gained notoriety for publicizing parts of the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s. He ran for president in 2008 but failed to gain traction. His campaign was known for an avant-garde campaign video with him staring into the camera before throwing a large rock into a pond. After not doing well with Democrats, Gravel switched to the Libertarian Party and unsuccessfully mounted a run for its nomination.
Gravel announced he was running for the 2020 Democratic nomination in April and released a campaign video titled “Rock 2.0.” A long-shot at best in a wide field of candidates, Gravel does not even register on the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls.
