President Biden’s reelection campaign announced that it has raised a whopping $27 million since his shaky performance in the debate with former President Trump.
Between the day of the debate and Friday night, the Biden-Harris campaign told Fox News it had raised $27 million.
The latest figures came after the campaign said Friday that it raised $14 million on the day of the debate and the morning after, a “testament to the strength of grassroots support.”
The campaign also noted Friday that the first hour after the debate, from 11pm to 12pm on Thursday, was its busiest fundraising hour since the start of the 2023 campaign in April.
Biden aims to change negative image after fiery debate with Trump
President Biden’s reelection campaign said it has raised $27 million since his unsuccessful debate with former President Trump. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
The huge donation comes as the Biden campaign tries to address panic within the Democratic Party about Biden’s mental fitness to serve as president following Thursday’s disastrous showdown between Biden and President Trump in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Needless to say, I know I’m not getting any younger,” Biden, who at 81 is the oldest president in U.S. history, told cheering supporters at a rally Friday afternoon in the key battleground state of North Carolina.
“Followers, I don’t walk as easily as I used to. I don’t talk as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to,” Biden acknowledged. “But I know what I know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know, as millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you can get up.”
The president cited 2024 as an example. A rematch with Trump “I wouldn’t be running again if I didn’t truly believe I could do the job,” he emphasized.
Biden struggled during the debate’s middle part, struggling with a raspy voice and incoherent answers, but several political analysts said the president’s responses got sharper as the debate progressed.
Heritage Foundation is working on election legal issues if Biden loses out on Democratic National Convention nomination
President Biden participates in the 2024 CNN presidential debate in Atlanta, Georgia on June 27, 2024. (Andrew Harnick)
Biden’s shaky and at times choppy performance dominated the debate’s headlines and prompted a new wave of calls from political pundits, publications and some Democrats for the president to step down as his party’s standard-bearer.
Biden’s aides have pushed back against those comments, defending the president throughout the debate and accusing Trump of “lying.”
Two Democratic sources confirmed to Fox News that Biden campaign officials attended a scheduled private meeting with the party’s top donors on Friday to try to ease concerns and fears.
“Biden’s record grassroots fundraising starting on debate day is crucial because it helps defuse criticism of his performance,” Maria Cardona, a veteran political strategist and Democratic National Committee member, told Fox News.
Cardona, a leading Biden ally, said the spotlight on fundraising “reminds Democrats of our enthusiasm for the president and the urgency of keeping a liar and criminal, Donald Trump, out of the Oval Office.”
Another Democratic strategist and presidential campaign veteran said the Biden campaign’s focus on fundraising “may be their best and only trump card.”
Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, downplayed Biden’s fundraising.
President Biden and former President Trump debated in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday night. (Getty Images)
“As of last week, the Biden campaign had spent $100 million on cable, TV and radio. They’ve sunk the money into a bloated organization. But President Trump’s lead is growing in battleground states, and polls and on-the-ground enthusiasm have made Virginia and Minnesota swing states for the Republican nominee for the first time in several election cycles,” Hughes told Fox News.
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The Trump campaign, which enjoyed some post-debate buzz, did not immediately need to highlight its own fundraising, but told Fox News on Friday afternoon that it had raised $8 million on the day of the debate.
