Well, those 44,405 votes Brian Bengs received running against Senator Thune (125,483 votes) were expensive.
Bengs Termination by Pat Powers on Scribd
In the 2021-2022 cycle, Bengs raised $497,968.04, including a 20k loan he gave himself, against $492,266.64 in expenditures. Basically, he spent $11 per vote to get to 25% against the Senator.
In the report terminating the campaign, it looks like it’s time for Bengs to pay the piper, as he was only able to recapture $3,015.81 of the loan from the campaign account, choosing to eat $16,984.19 of it.
Ouch.