After dumping a cool $500 million into the race, billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg has scored his first primary win in American Samoa, beating native Tulsi Gabbard and driving many netizens to dig out a map to find it.
With all results in, Bloomberg finished with 49 percent in the territory on Tuesday night, while Gabbard took second at 29 percent. Having passed the 15-point threshold, both candidates qualified for delegates – the only ones to do so in American Samoa – with Bloomberg earning four and Gabbard one. A final delegate there has yet to be awarded.
Apparently seeing a poor return on his half-billion-dollar investment after earning only a tiny fraction of the Super Tuesday delegates up for grabs, Bloomberg is now reportedly planning to “reassess” his campaign, despite the lonely win.
For Gabbard, a native of the small island, anything but a first-place victory came as a shock to some netizens, many suggesting Bloomberg had leveraged his billions to buy up votes in the (apparently) little-known territory.
A number of those following the race were surprised to learn that the South Pacific island factored into the US presidential election at all, sending some on an educational journey assisted by Google Maps.
President Donald Trump wasted little time before weighing in to declare Bloomberg the “biggest loser tonight, by far,” noting the billionaire walked away with “nothing… but the nickname Mini Mike” – coined by the president himself – and the “complete destruction of his reputation.”
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