Biden has big financial advantage as Trump’s new look boosts fundraising

Former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are stepping up fundraising, new reports show — but President Joe Biden and Democrats maintained a healthy cash cushion earlier this month.

The Republican National Committee raised more than $32 million in April, its first full month under Trump’s handpicked new leadership, a 55% increase over the previous month. And combined, Trump’s campaign and the national party had more than $88 million in cash as of the end of last month, a significant increase from before Trump became the party’s presumptive nominee.

But even with that increase, the Democratic National Committee reported raising almost $35.5 million in April, compared to the RNC’s $32 million. And most significantly, Biden’s campaign reported raising more than 2.5 times more money for its campaign account than Trump’s: between $24.1 million and $9.4 million.

While both candidates and national parties have filed monthly reports with the Federal Election Commission, other major affiliated fundraising committees have not yet been required to open their books, which most likely leaves millions of dollars out of the full financial picture for now. . In another development, the arm of Trump’s political operation that pays his legal fees has received a significant boost.

But a review of new documents and statements from both campaigns paints an important picture of how the fundraising race is shaping up, with Biden looking to build an organizational advantage while facing a major fight to keep his job.

Statements released by both campaigns suggested that Trump’s fundraising operation surpassed Biden’s in April, again pointing to the fact that some money could be sitting in other committees awaiting transfer to key players on the Republican Party side. . The Trump campaign and the RNC said this month that its operation raised $76 million last month, and the Biden campaign said Monday that its operation (which also includes the national party and other affiliated groups) raised $ 51 million.

Neither the RNC nor the Trump campaign responded to questions seeking more details about which commissions the $76 million was raised.

Even so, Democrats still have a big advantage in terms of resources. Biden and the DNC entered May with $146 million in cash on hand, compared to the Republicans’ $88 million.

Still, the increased fundraising is welcome news for Republicans, and comes as the party is adapting to the new leadership of RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of the former -president. The cash boost also comes after a series of high-profile, high-dollar fundraising campaigns by Trump in recent weeks, as well as an intense fundraising campaign surrounding his trial in New York.

Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Monday that Trump’s fundraising took place despite him spending significant time in court. “The momentum is 100% on President Trump’s side,” she said.

But while April appears to have been a strong month for the Republican Party, Biden continued to enjoy a huge resource advantage. His campaign has raised more than $104 million directly since the start of the year, compared to Trump’s $44.5 million, fueling the enormous cash advantage available and, Democrats argue, the type of campaign that may expire in the fall. Biden’s campaign far outpaced Trump’s this year in advertising spending and building a large campaign organization in key swing states.

Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement that the April fundraising is giving the campaign “the resources needed to invest in opening offices, hiring organizers and communicating in our swing states, the in order to mobilize the coalition of voters that will decide this election. ”

Trump’s party ties increase funding for legal projects

Campaign finance reports filed Monday also show that Trump took advantage of his new fundraising ties with the national and state Republican parties to help pay his legal bills.

Trump has been paying most of his legal bills through his leadership PAC, Save America, which reported raising $9 million in April — nearly double the amount raised in March. This is largely due to money raised through one of Trump’s joint fundraising committees, which is tied to the RNC and each state party.

Two-thirds of Save America’s fundraising came from transfers through the joint fundraising committee. The committee allows donors to cut a large check, which is then divided and apportioned among participating groups according to contribution limits.

Save America spent nearly $3.2 million on “legal consulting” when Trump’s secret trial in New York began, slightly less than the $3.7 million it spent on legal bills in March. That raises its total legal spending to over $62 million since the start of 2023.

But Save America has a lot more money to spend now, having ended April with $8.8 million on hand, double what it had to spend at the end of March.

The rest of Save America’s fundraising last month came largely from MAGA Inc., the pro-Trump super PAC. Save America gave the super PAC $60 million before Trump launched his presidential campaign in late 2022, but the big-spending group focused on his legal fights has been clawing back that money as Trump’s legal troubles mount. The latest refund was the last of the funds Save America transferred to MAGA Inc.

Save America also ended the month with more than $1.6 million in debt for “legal consulting.” At the end of April, the committee owed $837,000 to Blanche Law, office of Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead lawyer in the Manhattan trial. The PAC owed additional money to four other law firms.