This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

Billionaire presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg has now spent $460m on his campaign in just three months. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings released on Thursday, the money is being sourced from his own pockets.

The former New York City mayor and media mogul has claimed his campaign will stay entirely self-funded, drawing criticism from opponents who accuse him of seeking to buy the election.

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Bloomberg faced mounting attacks in his first qualifying appearance at the Democratic debate in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

“Democrats take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another,” said the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, opening the debate. By February, the campaign had more than $55m in cash on hand, more than some of his opponents raised all of last year.

Warren continued to criticize his big spending after the debate.

“After his performance tonight, I have no doubt he is about to drop, tonight, another $100m in this campaign to try to erase America’s memory of what happened on that debate stage,” she said.

The FEC filings detail more than $460m spent since Bloomberg first announced his bid for president in November. Much of the total stems from early advertising and staffing, totaling $264m in January alone.

He now faces an uphill battle to win the Democratic nomination for president. Ahead of Saturday’s primary in Nevada, Bloomberg is not on the ballot, adding to absences in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Still, Bloomberg is polling at 16.1% nationally, passing the former vice-president Joe Biden for second place behind the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders. He has staked his hopes on 3 March and Super Tuesday, when a slew of big states all vote on the same day and where their massive media markets give well-resourced ad-based campaigns a potentially huge advantage.

Forbes estimates Bloomberg’s wealth totals nearly $64bn.