New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent a whopping $102 million—$174 per vote—to narrowly win a third term in office this month, according to figures released last night. The billionaire broke his own record for the most expensive self-financed campaign in American history, the New York Times reports.
Bloomberg's rival, city comptroller William Thompson, came within 5 percentage points of victory despite being outspent 14 to 1. The mayor's critics say he has undermined the campaign finance system that he helped install, which caps spending at just $6 million. Bloomberg opted out of the system, burning through tens of millions in dollars in the campaign's final weeks as polls revealed his rival was edging ahead.
(More William Thompson stories.)