Johnson's campaign reports owing money to five creditors. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Gary Johnson campaign in debt

Gary Johnson’s already next-to-nothing odds of winning the presidency just got a little worse: The Libertarian candidate remains deep in debt as he hurtles toward Election Day.

Johnson had less than $36,000 in available cash versus more than $227,000 in debt as of Oct. 17, according to a filing Thursday afternoon with the Federal Election Commission.


The campaign reports owing money to five creditors, including almost $190,000 to Utah-based consulting firm Political Advisors for media buys, email marketing and ballot access costs.

Johnson’s campaign raised about $204,000 and spent more than $197,000 from Oct. 1 to Oct. 17, with the bulk of his expenditures going toward advertising and staffing. He did manage to reduce his debt load in recent weeks while remaining in the red.

Unlike President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, Johnson, a former New Mexico governor who initially ran as a Republican presidential candidate, accepted federal matching funds to help run his campaign. By doing so, he reaped more than $333,000 in public money for the election cycle.

Johnson is, at best, polling in the single digits against Obama and Romney within the 47 states (and District of Columbia) in which he’s on the presidential ballot. His underwhelming poll numbers disqualified him from participating in major presidential debates, relegated to a little-noticed, minor party affair hosted by former CNN talk show host Larry King.

But particularly in swing states, where thousands or even hundreds of votes could separate Romney and Obama, Johnson stands to play the role of spoiler, his presence potentially benefiting one candidate over another — although prominent political officials such as Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus don’t think so.