A new report says that since he started running for office last year, Boston’s Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson has spent more than $30,000 on hair and makeup with campaign funds.
Johnson beat out Lori Lightfoot for mayor in 2023. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Johnson used campaign donations to his Friends of Brandon Johnson fund to pay for his hair and makeup appointments.
The news source used election board records to show that the mayor, who is a progressive, spent more than $30,000 on cleaning himself in the last year. It paid for almost all of makeup artist and self-described “skincare enthusiast” Denise Milloy’s business, Makeup Majic, which she runs out of her home on the South Side. The Sun-Times says that between 2023 and 2024, Milloy got more than 30 payments from Johnson.
In the spending report, the money was labeled as “Candidate makeup for TV,” “Candidate makeup for debate,” or “Candidate makeup” before the 2023 election.
The more progressive mayor paid the makeup artist and put the money in “event expenses,” according to the newspaper.
Milloy told the Sun-Times that she is “not at liberty” to talk about her work with Johnson’s campaign when they asked her for a statement.
The Sun-Times remembered that Johnson’s campaign spokeswoman had said that a lot of the money came from “working-class people” and labor groups.
When the paper asked about Johnson’s spending and grooming habits, Johnson’s campaign adviser Bill Neidhardt said in writing, “The mayor does not spend taxpayer dollars getting ready for the many public appearances and events he attends every day.”
“Instead, he is using his campaign funds to pay Black and women-owned businesses a fair wage for the work they do getting the mayor and campaign staff ready for events, media appearances, public appearances, and other opportunities.”
Neidhardt said, “Hair and makeup services are commonplace among high-ranking public officials.”
The report also says that Johnson’s campaign paid Anthony Jones Salon in Palatine, Illinois, $4,000 on March 27 for “event expenses.” What the shop owner said to the Sun-Times, though, was that he never got the money and has never worked for Johnson’s campaign.
This charge was made by mistake, and Neidhardt said that the vendor who filled out the campaign’s financial records “wrote down the wrong” salon. It was paid for “hair and makeup” at AJ Styles Barber & Beauty Salon on the West Side, and the salon was involved in “multiple events,” according to the Sun-Times.
Lightfoot, Johnson’s predecessor, only paid a Chicago business four times for “event makeup services” during her campaign last year, according to the paper. This suggests that Johnson cared more about how he looked than Lightfoot did.
