Former President Trump has raised significantly more money than President Biden, thanks in part to a surge in funding following his conviction in his first criminal trial in New York last month.
The Trump campaign touted that more than $50 million had been raised to support Trump within a day of the ruling being announced, adding to its total. Though both candidates have plenty of cash at their disposal, May helped erase the financial advantage Biden enjoyed throughout the election.
Here are five key takeaways from documents filed by each campaign with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) this month:
Trump outperforms Biden
While polls show close races or Trump with slight leads in key states likely to decide the election, one bright spot for Biden is his fundraising totals.
No more.
The situation first changed in April, when Trump raised $76 million to incumbent Biden’s $51 million, and then in May, the gap widened even further, with Trump raising a massive $141 million to Biden’s $85 million.
The Trump campaign, along with the Republican National Committee, received 2 million in donations last month, a quarter of which came from first-time donors, while the Biden campaign said May was its highest month of donations from repeat donors so far.
Trump now has more money in the bank. Direct Comparison of Candidates’ campaigns The numbers are higher when you take into account the combined totals of the Republican and Democratic National Committees: Trump and the RNC had $171 million in cash on hand, while Biden and the DNC had $157 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Experts say both candidates plan to spend millions on the campaign trail and a lack of funds should not be an issue, but the next two months will mark a turning point for Trump, who trailed Biden financially for much of the election.
Donations surge following Trump’s conviction
Last month’s criminal conviction of a former president and presumptive major party presidential nominee was unprecedented in U.S. history, and fundraising figures for both campaigns reflected that.
Within 24 hours of a Manhattan jury convicting Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush-money case, some $53 million — more than a third of Trump’s total income in May — had come in through online donations. It may be the only one of the four criminal trials Trump faces that will take place before Election Day.
But while Trump supporters have rallied in the wake of the verdict, the Biden campaign has also been on a fundraising ramp-up, with sources familiar with the matter telling The Hill that the campaign enjoyed its best fundraising hour to date since the jury announced its verdict.
Of course, a ruling in one of Trump’s lawsuits was an unusual event on the election calendar and may not happen again if the other lawsuits are postponed, but it was a major contribution to Trump’s ability to close the funding gap overall.
Sub-election fundraising is heating up.
At the same time as the presidential election, the battle for control of Congress is intensifying, as evidenced by the amount of money raised by each party’s House and Senate campaign organizations last month.
Both the Republican National Congressional Committee (NRCC) and the Democratic National Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) set new record-breaking totals in the month of May, but the NRCC outraised the DCCC for the first time this year last month, raising $12.6 million to $11.9 million.
The NRCC also appeared emboldened by Trump’s conviction, raising more than $1 million within days from small donors, a third of whom had never donated to the committee before.
On the Senate side, the National Republican Senatorial Committee also outraised the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) in May, $12.4 million to $10.6 million.
But going into June, Democratic committees still have more cash on hand: The DCCC outraised the Republicans $78.8 million to $64.9 million, while the DSCC outraised the Republicans $48.3 million to $41 million.
Trump has a lot of money
Trump raised significantly more money than Biden in May, but he also held on to much more money than Biden, allowing him to go into June with more cash on hand.
The Biden campaign spent $30.6 million last month, while the Trump campaign spent just $7.9 million, according to FEC filings. The candidates’ spending totals won’t be released to the public until next month, when the Joint Fundraising Committee, which combines multiple campaign committees to raise money under a more streamlined structure, files its FEC filings for the second quarter of 2024.
The Biden campaign says the spending will allow it to build out campaign infrastructure in key battleground states.
One financial problem that has dogged Trump for months and may continue to do so is the payment of exorbitant legal fees. Trump’s fundraising committees have spent about $50 million on legal fees through 2023 and millions more so far this year.
The money will likely remain a financial headache for Trump, despite his recent largesse, but holding onto it for now could allow him to focus his resources as the election approaches.
Billionaires step in to fill funding hole
FEC regulations limit how much individuals can donate to a candidate’s campaign but do not limit contributions to super PACs, which support candidates but operate independently of campaigns, and the wealthy have shown a willingness to throw large sums of money at both sides.
One of the most significant donations last month came from billionaire Timothy Mellon, who gave $50 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC that supports Trump. Mellon made the donation on May 31, the day after the New York ruling was handed down. According to FEC filings:.
Trump cannot dictate how these funds are spent, but he can use them to support his candidacy.
Biden is likely to get support from billionaire philanthropist and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has reportedly donated $19 million to Future Forward, a super PAC backing Biden, and has also donated nearly $1 million to Biden’s joint fundraising committee, the Biden Victory Fund.
These funds, and others from ultra-wealthy donors, may not go directly to specific political campaigns, but they do help support or oppose candidates.
