Former president Donald Trump and Republicans are ramping up fundraising, new reports show — but Pres Joe Biden and Democrats maintained a healthy cash balance earlier this month.
The Republican National Committee raised more than $32 million in April, the first full month of Trump’s new administration, a 55% increase over the previous month. And together, the Trump campaign and the national party had invested more than $88 million by the end of last month, a significant increase from before Trump became the party’s presumptive nominee.
But even with that boost, the Democratic National Committee reported raising about $35.5 million in April to the RNC’s $32 million. And most significantly, Biden’s campaign reported raising 2.5 times more campaign money than Trump: $24.1 million to $9.4 million.
While both candidates and national parties file monthly reports with the Federal Election Commission, other major, related fundraising committees are not yet required to open their books, likely leaving millions of dollars out of the full financial picture. In another development, the arm of Trump’s political operation that pays his legal bills got a significant boost.
But an analysis of new documents and statements from both campaigns paints an important picture of how the fundraising race is shaping up as Biden tries to build on an organizational advantage as he faces an uphill battle to stay in office.
Statements released by both campaigns suggested Trump’s fundraising surpassed Biden’s in April, suggesting once again that money may be sitting in other committees waiting to be transferred to key players on the GOP side. The Trump campaign and the RNC said their operation this month raised $76 million last month, and the Biden campaign said Monday its operation (which includes the national party and other affiliated groups) raised $51 million.
Neither the RNC nor the Trump campaign responded to questions seeking further details about which committees the $76 million was raised for.
Even so, Democrats still have a huge resource advantage. Biden and the DNC started May with $146 million in cash, compared to $88 million for Republicans.
Still, the fundraising surge is good news for Republicans, and it comes at a time when the party is settling down. under the new leadership RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of the former president. Cash growth also comes after a high profile stringTrump’s high-dollar fundraiser in recent weeks, as well an intense fundraising push around his trial in New York.
Trump’s fundraising comes despite spending significant time in court, Trump campaign press secretary Caroline Leavitt said in a statement Monday. “The momentum is 100% on President Trump’s side,” he said.
While April looked like a strong month for the GOP, Biden continued to expand his huge resource advantage. His campaign has raised more than $104 million directly since the start of the year, compared to $44.5 million for Trump, a massive cash pool and fueling a campaign that Democrats argue could win in the fall. Biden’s campaign has far outpaced Trump in ad spending this year build a large campaign organization in key swing states.
Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, said in a statement that the April fundraiser “has given the campaign the resources it needs to invest in opening offices, hiring organizers and communications in our battleground states to mobilize the coalition of voters who will decide this election.”
Trump’s party connections raise funds for bills
Campaign finance reports filed Monday also show Trump has used new fundraising ties with national and state Republican parties to help pay his legal debts.
Trump is paying most of his legal bills through Save America, a PAC that said it raised $9 million in April — nearly twice as much as in March. This is largely due to money raised through one of Trump’s joint fundraising committeesIt is up to the RNC and each participating state.
Two-thirds of Save America’s profits came from transfers through a joint fundraising committee. The committee allows donors to cut one large check, which is then split and distributed to participating groups according to contribution limits.
Save America spent about $3.2 million on “legal consulting” as Trump’s hush money trial began in New York, down from the $3.7 million it spent on bills in March. That brings his total legal expenses since early 2023 to more than $62 million.
But Save America now has more money to spend, ending April with $8.8 million, more than 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., a pro-Trump super PAC. Save America gave $60 million to the super PAC before Trump launched his presidential campaign in late 2022, but the big-spending group focused on his legal battles has clawed back the money as Trump’s legal problems mount. The latest refund was the latest in a series of transfers by Save America to MAGA Inc.
Save America also ended the month with more than $1.6 million in debt for “legal advice.” At the end of April, the committee owed $837,000 Blanche Law, the firm of Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead attorney in the Manhattan trial. PAC owed additional money to four other law firms.