AP (“Trump dwarfs Biden in latest fundraising numbers in show of political force after felony convictions“):
Donald Trump’s campaign outraised President Joe Biden by more than $60 million last month, according to federal filings that detailed the Republican fundraising explosion sparked by Trump’s felony convictions.
Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee together raised a robust $85 million in May and reported $212 million in the bank at the end of the month. The strong showing does not include roughly $40 million raised by Biden and his top surrogates in recent days — or a separate $20 million donation from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to pro-Biden groups.
Still, Trump’s fundraising for, for one month at least, seemed to dwarf Biden’s, according to the filings made public Thursday.
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee said it raised a jaw-dropping $141 million in May, including tens of millions donated immediately after Trump was convicted of 34 felonies in the New York hush money case. At the same time, billionaire Timothy Mellon donated a stunning $50 million to a pro-Trump super PAC the day after Trump’s guilty verdict, according to the filings.
Overall, Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee reported more than $170 million in the bank at the end of May, although Biden’s campaign questioned whether the groups were devoting resources to cover Trump’s legal fees.
“Our strong and consistent fundraising program grew by millions of people in May, a clear sign of strong and growing enthusiasm for the president and vice president every single month,” said Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez. “The money we continue to raise matters, and it’s helping the campaign build out an operation that invests in reaching and winning the voters who will decide this election –- a stark contrast to Trump’s PR stunts and photo-ops that he’s pretending is a campaign.”
Taken together, the numbers detailed in the campaigns’ latest Federal Election Commission filings suggest Democrats may still maintain a cash advantage in the 2024 presidential contest. But almost four months before Election Day, Trump’s side is closing the gap — if it isn’t closed already.
POLITICO (“Trump raised so much last month he erased Biden’s cash advantage“):
Former President Donald Trump’s huge May fundraising haul erased President Joe Biden’s longstanding cash advantage as the two gear up for a rematch.
Trump’s campaign had $116.6 million in the bank at the end of May, compared to $91.6 million for Biden.
It wasn’t due to poor fundraising on the incumbent’s part — Biden’s campaign saw a decent fundraising rebound in May after a weak showing the month prior. But Trump’s fundraising while he was on trial in New York that month, punctuated in the final days when he was convicted, was enough to surpass Biden in campaign cash, something that had long been seen as a crucial strength of his.
The latest campaign finance filings with the Federal Election Commission also revealed how Biden has continued to build out his campaign apparatus, while Trump has largely held onto cash. And down-ballot races are also heating up, with party committees and other outside groups bringing in — and spreading around — more cash than before.
After months of a relatively sleepy start, the real money race has begun.
Those are among the takeaways of the campaign finance reports filed by presidential campaigns, party committees and a handful of other groups on Thursday. The reports covered all activity for the month of May.
Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee said they raised $141 million in May, a figure that included the significant fundraising boost after the former president’s criminal conviction on hush money charges. (The full breakdown behind that number won’t be available until mid-July, when Trump’s joint fundraising committees file their own reports.)
But the former president’s campaign filing Thursday showed a significant surge in the final two days of the month — the day the jury handed down a guilty verdict and the day after.
Just looking at large-dollar donations, the campaign reported receiving at least six times as many daily donations those two days compared to a typical day. And the fundraising spike was likely even greater, considering that doesn’t include unitemized donations of less than $200 or any donations that the joint fundraising contributions hadn’t yet transferred.
In total, Trump’s campaign and the RNC reported just over $170 million cash on hand combined at the end of May, overtaking Biden and the Democratic National Committee, which reported just shy of $157 million.
BBC (“Trump campaign gets $50m boost from single donor“):
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has received $50m (£39.5m) boost from the conservative billionaire Timothy Mellon, a federal filing showed on Thursday.
The Super-Pac fund called “MAGA Inc” disclosed to the Federal Election Commission that it took in more than $68m from donors last month.
Reuters reported that Mr Mellon, an heir of the Pittsburgh-based Mellon banking family, gave $50m. Another $10m came from billionaires Liz and Dick Uihlein.
US media reported that Mr Mellon sent the donation the day after Trump was convicted on 34 charges of falsifying business records in his New York hush-money trial.
Mr Mellon has also been the biggest donor to independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, giving the pro-Kennedy Super-Pac American Values at least $20m.
Essentially, then, the difference in last month’s fundraising is that Trump got a $50 million donation from a billionaire whereas Biden got a paltry $20 million from another.
I’m skeptical that the money itself will much matter. Both candidates are so well-defined that it seems unlikely advertising, the traditional major campaign cost, will have much impact. And both can get all the “earned” media coverage they want, anyway.
To the extent it does matter, though, I’d give Biden the edge. First and foremost, he doesn’t have massive and growing legal bills to pay off so even relatively similar totals will be a net benefit to him. Second, the Democrats are considerably better organized after Trump destroyed the RNC machinery.
