The Republican candidates for president, when combined, raised more than the campaign of President Joe Biden in the second quarter of 2023.
Leading the fundraising pack for Republicans is former President Donald Trump.
Although Trump shows $17.7 million raised in the second quarter, he also has about that much still sitting in his joint fundraising committees that has not been transferred to his campaign, but could be transferred if needed, and so it’s not accounted for. He is believed to have raised about $35 million in the second quarter, much from small donors, who are key for any campaign because they represent actual votes. Since Trump announced his run for president in November, this amount represents the full second quarter of April through June.
That is less than half of the $72 million that Biden raised in his campaign, and the Democratic National Committee and the joint fundraising committees associated with Biden.
The Biden camp announced the money for his campaign came from 394,000 donors and that 97% of all the donations were under $200.
The period covered for Biden’s fundraising total is about nine weeks, since he announced his bid to run for reelection on April 25.
Biden has been conserving cash and campaigning mainly from the White House, rather than setting up separate campaign headquarters. He’s also been lean on staff, instead using government officials to do his campaigning for him, such as Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Vice President Kamala Harris. He is campaigning on taxpayer dollars.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis raised $20 million during the second quarter, but he had not launched his campaign until May 24, and so that total only covers five weeks. He raised the most of any Republican during that period, it appears.
DeSantis also has a Never Back Down political action committee that is working parallel to him to get his message out. It had raised $130 million since launching in March.
The DeSantis campaign, realizing it was burning through cash, has laid off about 10% of its large staff, which was 92 before a few of the event planning staff were laid off last week.
DeSantis’s total for the first five weeks is more than what Trump raised during that timeframe in 2022, when he first launched. And it was more than Trump raised in his first few weeks of his campaign plus his first quarter of 2023.
Republican presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy donated $5 million to his own campaign, and had a total of $7.7 million to report for the second quarter. He announced in February, and so he’s only raised $2.7 million from others during the full quarter of April through June.
After those three, the numbers drop off, but still add to the Republican field having raised more money than Biden.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, brought in $5.8 million since launching his campaign in late May. But he has significant cash on hand of $21 million, more than DeSantis or Ramaswamy. Polling has Scott in fifth place at 1%, according to Morning Consult.
Former Ambassador Nikki Haley had announced a week ago that she would be reporting $7.3 million raised in the second quarter. That puts her with $15.6 million since launching her campaign. Her campaign said she had 160,000 donations from all 50 states.
She also has a super PAC working parallel to her campaign, and it has raised $18.7 million, for a total of $34.3 million. Her campaign has campaign has $9.3 million cash on hand and the super PAC has $17 million.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign raised $1.65 million in the second quarter, and for him that represents just 25 days of fundraising.
Former Vice President Mike Pence and his super PAC raised $3.85 million. That represents just four weeks of fundraising.
Scrappy Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reported bringing in more than $6 million since launching his campaign on April 19. He is challenging President Joe Biden for the Democratic Party nomination.
Democrat self-help guru Marianne Williamson raised $920,000, but she has $270,000 in unpaid bills, and only $105,000 cash on hand with which to pay them.
In a Morning Consult poll published last month, Trump had edged ahead of Biden. When voters were asked who they would vote for between the two men, 44 percent said they would cast their support for Trump, while 41 percent of those said they would choose Biden.
Morning Consult puts Trump in first at 57%, with DeSantis polling 17% among Republican-leaning voters.
