Trump ramps up fundraising to close gap with Biden

Former President Trump and his allies are ramping up fundraising efforts to close the funding gap with President Biden.

Trump has been known for his fundraising prowess in previous election cycles, but 2024 has gotten off to a somewhat lackluster start financially. Biden significantly outperformed Biden in the final quarter of 2023, $33 million to $19 million, and that difference carried into the new year.

Mr. Trump and the Republican National Committee (RNC) raised more than $65 million in March, a significant increase from several months earlier. The Biden campaign has not yet released March numbers, but last week’s fundraiser, which included former Presidents Obama and Clinton, as well as celebrities such as Stephen Colbert and Queen Latifah, could yield big results. Highly sexual.

On Saturday, the former president held his own major fundraiser in Palm Beach, Florida, where he aims to surpass Biden and unseat him.

“Over time, we can certainly catch up, and it’s definitely going to be necessary to win votes because the election could be very close,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist. Ta. “That’s where it really makes a difference.”

President Trump holds large-scale fundraiser in Palm Beach

Trump’s campaign brought in $13.8 million in January and just over $20 million in February. But Biden’s organization easily surpassed that with $42 million and $53 million. Entering March, Mr. Biden had a significant cash advantage of $155 million to Mr. Trump’s $42 million.

In general elections, incumbents often have a fundraising advantage, especially in the early stages, but 2024 is unusual in that the challenger has also previously served in the Oval Office. But President Trump appears to be signaling that he intends to ramp up fundraising efforts for an event scheduled for Saturday.

The event will feature several ultra-wealthy donors, including billionaire TikTok investor Jeff Yass and payday lender founder Michael Hodges. Hedge fund founder John Paulson will host the event.

President Trump: “Achieve more with less”

The Trump campaign and the RNC formed a joint fundraising committee last month to streamline donations after Trump officially became the presumptive nominee.

Bonjean said the committee is more efficient than operating as a separate entity and helps focus donations where they can be most helpful.

He noted that Trump has done well with small donations, which will likely increase as the general election progresses, and that Trump’s regular “free media” He argued that the disparity between him and Biden would hurt other candidates more than it would hurt Trump. I will receive it.

“Trump is a walking TV ad, and no matter what message he conveys in that ad, it’s usually the latest thing he says that makes the headlines,” Bonjean said.

Republican strategist Ford O’Connell may understand that Trump will have less money to spend than Biden during the campaign because of how much money he will need to divert to pay for legal fees. said that it was high.

A key detail of the joint fundraising committee set up between the Trump campaign and the RNC is an arrangement in which donations will first go to the Trump campaign and Save America PAC, the political action committee that is paying for Trump’s legal fees. It is.

“But at the same time, he can do more with less. He’s a media-getting machine,” O’Connell said.

Alienated Republican Party May Fund Trump

Republican strategist Michael Duhaime, a former RNC political director who advised former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s 2024 campaign, said he was not surprised by the disparity since Biden is the incumbent. He also said Trump has alienated many traditional center-right donors who have supported candidates like Christie and Nikki Haley and who normally strongly support Republican candidates. Ta.

Haley was able to maintain significant financial support from January to February, even though Trump won most of the contests the two contested. in. She had the support of Charles Koch’s political network and big donors like Home Depot founder Ken Langone.

But Duhaime said she has seen some supporters of Haley and other candidates start supporting Trump now that he is officially the nominee. He said Biden’s failure to reach out to anti-Trump Republicans could hurt his chances of gaining valuable supporters.

politiko report Mr. Biden announced last week that he and Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Mitt Romney (Utah), Todd Young (Indiana), Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), and Lisa・It was revealed last week that he had no contact with Sen. Murkowski and other prominent Republicans who do not support Trump. (Alaska).

“I think there’s a fundraising point in this because he hasn’t cultivated that traditional conservative mainstream pro-business right wing,” Duhaime said. “They’re not being courted by Biden in the way that they probably could be. Some of them are probably looking for an alternative to Trump and could end up going back to Trump.”

Biden is stepping up efforts to get Haley’s former supporters to withdraw from the race. The campaign released ads and statements aimed at getting at least some people on board.

“Donald Trump has made it clear that he does not want Nikki Haley’s supporters. Let me be clear: there is a place for them in my campaign,” Haley said in a statement after her resignation. Biden said.

Mr. Duhaime questioned the effectiveness of the candidates’ TV ads, given that many voters’ feelings about Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden have already hardened. He said money is likely to be most important this year in getting voters to come to the polls. Trump would have to divert large sums of money to legal costs, potentially giving Democrats an advantage.

But he added that President Trump’s $33 million fundraiser scheduled for Saturday is a big number, and one expected for a major party candidate.

“It’s an amazing number, but it requires a candidate who can clearly overcome the many challenges he faces,” he said.