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President Biden’s reelection campaign ended in January with about $56 million in cash, giving him a financial advantage over former President Donald J. Trump, who had about $30 million in cash at the end of the month. It spread.
This is a significant increase for Mr. Biden, who ended 2023 with $46 million in campaign funds, but a slight decrease for Mr. Trump’s campaign, which had $33 million in cash at the end of the year. There is.
Biden’s advantage appears to be in part because the Democratic Party establishment and its fundraising potential quickly rallied behind him in what is expected to be the most expensive presidential election ever. Trump faces serious questions about the political and financial impact of his many legal troubles as he seeks to get Republicans to fully agree to his nomination.
The stark disparity in campaign finance revealed in Tuesday’s Federal Election Commission filings shows how the president and the man who won in 2020 are raising and spending money for a rematch in November. It does not tell the whole story. .
First, both Trump and Biden raise money through joint fundraising committees, which don’t have to submit reports until April. These committees often transfer funds to campaigns to pay salaries and earn advertising time. Without these numbers, the full picture of a candidate’s financial situation is not completely clear.
More broadly, Tuesday’s FEC filing points to a difference in the situation.
Incumbent Biden is already working with the Democratic National Committee, the party giant that can carry out on-the-ground operations for his re-election bid, to raise money. On Tuesday, his team reported that it raised a total of $42 million in January across committees to support his reelection efforts, with a total of $130 million on hand at the end of January.
The DNC alone reported having $24 million in cash at the end of January.
Meanwhile, Trump is still fending off primary challenger Nikki Haley. Until he wins the nomination, he cannot work with the Republican National Committee to raise money. (The RNC on Tuesday reported $8.7 million in cash on hand at the end of January.)
And, perhaps more critically, committees supporting Mr. Trump spend millions of dollars each month on legal fees.
Trump faces four criminal charges in addition to his civil suit, which are proving costly. Last year, the committee supporting him spent at least $50 million on legal fees, according to his filings, and that cost is likely to swell with preparations for a potential trial this year.
Despite losing the nomination contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, Haley vowed to continue her long-term nomination fight at least through Super Tuesday on March 5, and pledged a large sum of money in January. collected.
But for the first time since she entered the race, her campaign reported spending more than it raised. In January, $11.5 million was raised and $13.1 million was disbursed. (Two of the committees supporting her did not submit their reports Tuesday.)
His campaign reported $13 million in cash on hand at the end of January, down slightly from $14.6 million at the end of December.
Biden’s gains in January could allay concerns among his supporters that he is not attracting enough financial support.
At the end of 2023, committees supporting Mr. Biden had raised a combined $97.1 million and had a combined $117 million on hand. It was not the overwhelming lead that some in the party had expected, given Trump’s divisive opinions and the fact that the former president had spent money on primaries and legal costs.
On Tuesday, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, called Biden’s January fundraising “an undisputed show of strength to start the election year.”
He added: “While Team Biden-Harris continues to ramp up its fundraising mechanisms, Republicans are left wondering whether they will spend money to fight Donald Trump or to support Donald Trump’s extreme and losing policies. Opinions are divided as to whether the money should be spent,” he added.
The Trump campaign had $30.5 million in cash on hand at the end of January, but also listed about $1.1 million in debt, offset by $490,000 in money owed to the campaign. The campaign raised $8.8 million and spent $11.4 million in January.
Mr. Trump has raised campaign funds primarily through the Trump Save America Community Chest, which was not filed Tuesday. The Community Chest Committee raised $75.2 million and spent $77.3 million in the second half of 2023, leaving $3.6 million on hand at the end of the year.
A January report from one of Trump’s committees, the leadership PAC Save America, which he has used to pay his legal fees, reported $6.3 million in cash on hand at the end of January. The group spent nearly $3 million in legal fees in January and owed more than $1.8 million to lawyers who represented Trump in various criminal and civil cases, according to filings. be.
Trump’s press secretary, Stephen Chan, responded to a request for comment and sent a link to a Fox News article reporting that Trump is expected to raise more than $6 million at a fundraiser in South Carolina on Tuesday. Ta. night. (Biden is planning a big-ticket fundraiser in California this week.)
Save America reported receipts of $5,008,508.87 in January, of which $5 million was from MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting Mr. Trump. As The New York Times reported last month, transfers of roughly the same size are being made each month as part of large refunds from super PACs to committees.
MAGA Inc. had $19.7 million in cash at the end of January, down from $23.3 million at the end of December.
Of the $7.4 million MAGA Inc. raised in January, $5 million came from bank heir and businessman Timothy Mellon, who has now donated a total of $15 million to MAGA Inc. There is.
Mr. Mellon also threatened third-party spoilers against Mr. Biden by donating an additional $20 million to a PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a political scion and independent Democratic presidential candidate. It also caught the attention of Democrats wary of a challenge.
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