The free sh** Army is getting a taste of reality.
Delegates saddled with thousands of dollars in expenses – from pricey hotels to time off work – to attend the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia have now turned to crowdfunding sites to help pay their way.
The estimated per-person cost for the four-day convention between 25-28 July ranges from $3,000 to $8,000, according to delegates pledged to the Democratic Party’s two remaining candidates.
Andrew Niquette, a Bernie Sanders delegate from Georgia and 19-year-old chef, said he received a price estimate from the state Democratic Party of around $8,000, including hotel prices of $1,000 a night.
“When we ran for delegate positions we knew it was going to be a little pricey, but none of us knew how expensive it is,” said Niquette, who has set a fundraising goal of $3,600 on GoFundMe, a crowdfunding site. “I am trying to self-fund the rest of the money I need by working 70 hour weeks.”
Niquette said that since the daily schedule starts at around 7:00am every morning and delegates must go through time-consuming Secret Service security checks, most are forced to stay in hotels the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has designated.
The DNC has blocked out rooms in approximately 26 hotels in Philadelphia for the week of the national convention, and depending on the size of the delegation, there are between one and three state delegations staying at each hotel.
Most of the hotels have hiked up room prices for the week. For example, at the Lowes Philadelphia Hotel, where the New York delegation is housed, the nightly block rate for DNC-held rooms is $449 a night. Ordinarily on a non-convention weeknight, rooms can cost $229.
“We have to stay at our hotels because they serve as our headquarters,” Niquette said. “They make it very, very insanely difficult to go to a cheaper hotel.”
Matt Hughes, a Hillary Clinton delegate from North Carolina, said that fundraising is particularly important for younger delegates who often don’t have as much disposable income.