President Joe Biden salutes as he boards Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, Thursday, June 20, 2024. Biden spent several days at his seaside vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, before heading to Camp David to prepare for the upcoming presidential debates. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign raised more than $60 million more than President Joe Biden last month, according to federal documents released Thursday detailing a surge in Republican fundraising sparked by Trump’s felony conviction.
The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised a combined $85 million in May and reported having $212 million in the bank at the end of the month. That doesn’t include the roughly $40 million Biden and his top surrogates recently raised, or the $20 million former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated separately to Biden groups.
Still, for at least a month, Trump’s fundraising appeared to far outpace Biden’s.
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee announced they had raised a staggering $141 million in May, including tens of millions of dollars donated shortly after Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in the New York hush-money case. At the same time, billionaire Timothy Mellon donated a staggering $50 million to a pro-Trump super PAC the day after Trump’s conviction, according to documents released Thursday.
The Trump campaign declined to report how much money it had in its bank accounts as of the end of May, leading the Biden campaign to question whether these groups were still spending heavily to cover Trump’s legal costs.
“Our robust and consistent fundraising program grew by millions in May, a clear sign of strong, growing enthusiasm for the President and Vice President month after month,” said Biden Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez. “The funds we continue to raise are critical and help the Campaign build an operation invested in reaching and winning over voters who will decide this election. This stands in stark contrast to Trump’s PR and photo ops that are trying to masquerade as a campaign.”
The numbers, detailed in the latest Federal Election Commission filings from both campaigns, suggest Democrats may still have a financial advantage in the 2024 presidential race. But with nearly four months until Election Day, the Trump campaign is closing the gap — if not already closing it.
The new fundraising figures also highlight how the rules of presidential elections are being rewritten in the Trump era.
In U.S. history, presidential candidates have almost always been forced to withdraw from elections after being convicted of dozens of felonies. But in 2024, Trump’s conviction would instead spur a massive fundraising surge, positioning his team to ramp up advertising and shake up state infrastructure just as voters begin to focus on the election.
Backed by Mellon’s big donation, the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. is dedicating $3.5 million to television ads starting Thursday in Georgia and Pennsylvania, which will begin July 3. The group reported total revenues of $68.8 million in May and banked $93.7 million at the end of the month, according to media tracking firm AdImpact.
Mellon is one of the biggest donors to both President Trump and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., though his support for Kennedy may be fading.
Kennedy raised $2.6 million last month and ended May with $6.4 million in the bank, most of the money coming from Nicole Shanahan, a wealthy Silicon Valley lawyer and running mate. Kennedy’s campaign spent more than it raised in the month.
The figures released Thursday don’t include money raised in June, including the roughly $40 million Biden and his top surrogates recently raised. Most of that came at a glitzy fundraiser in Los Angeles last Saturday that included movie stars and former President Barack Obama, which raised more than $30 million. First lady Jill Biden has also been holding her own fundraiser, raising $1.5 million.
Meanwhile, Biden also received a big boost from Bloomberg.
The billionaire philanthropist, who briefly ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, transferred $929,600, the legal limit, to the Biden Victory Fund and $19 million to the pro-Biden group Future Forward, according to a person familiar with the transfers.
Bloomberg also formally endorsed Biden on Thursday. “I endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and am proud to do so again,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
The Biden campaign said the majority of its recent fundraising has come from grassroots donors such as nurses, teachers and retirees. Overall, the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised more than 3 million new donors in the last month, according to a campaign statement.
“While Trump is scamming his billionaire acolytes, our campaign represents the voice of America and we are honored to have their support as we race toward November,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison.
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Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington and Jill Colvin in New York contributed.
