Former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are ramping up their fundraising, new reports show — but President Joe Biden and the Democrats maintained a healthy cash lead early this month.
The Republican National Committee raised more than $32 million in April, its first full month under Trump’s handpicked new leadership, a 55% increase from the previous month. And combined, the Trump campaign and the national party had more than $88 million in the bank at the end of last month, a significant increase since before Trump became the party’s presumptive nominee.
But even with that increase, the Democratic National Committee reported raising nearly $35.5 million in April, compared to the RNC’s $32 million. Most importantly, Biden’s campaign had deposited more than 2.5 times more money into the campaign account than Trump’s: $24.1 million to $9.4 million.
While both candidates and national parties filed monthly reports with the Federal Election Commission, other key affiliated fundraising committees have not yet had to open their books, likely leaving millions of dollars out of the full financial picture for now. In another development, the arm of Trump’s political operation that paid his legal fees got a significant boost.
But an analysis of the new documents and statements from both campaigns paints a key picture of how the fundraising race is shaping up, with Biden looking to build on an organizational advantage as he faces a major battle to keep his office.
Statements from both campaigns suggested that Trump’s fundraising operation surpassed Biden’s in April, again pointing to the fact that there could be some money sitting in other committees awaiting transfer to key players on the Republican Party side. The Trump campaign and the RNC said this month that their operation raised $76 million last month, and the Biden campaign said Monday that its operation (which includes the national party and other affiliated groups) raised $51 million.
Neither the RNC nor the Trump campaign responded to questions seeking more details about the committees for which the $76 million was raised.
Yet the Democrats still have a large resource advantage. Biden and the DNC started May with $146 million in cash, compared to Republicans’ $88 million.
Still, the increase in fundraising is welcome news for Republicans, and it comes as the party settles in under the new leadership of RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law. The cash boost also comes after a series of high-profile, expensive fundraisers by Trump in recent weeks, as well as intense fundraising around his trial in New York.
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Monday that Trump’s fundraising came despite him spending significant time in court. “The momentum is 100% on President Trump’s side,” she said.
But while April appears to have been a strong month for the Republican Party, Biden has continued to leverage a huge resource advantage. His campaign has raised more than $104 million directly since the start of the year, compared with $44.5 million for Trump, fueling the huge cash advantage and, Democrats argue, the kind of campaign that will be launched in the fall can win. Biden’s campaign has far surpassed Trump’s this year in ad spending and building a major campaign base in key swing states.
Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement that the April fundraiser gives the campaign “the resources needed to invest in opening offices, hiring organizers and communicating in our battleground states to mobilize the coalition of voters who will decide these elections. ”
Trump’s party ties provide more money for legal bills
Campaign finance reports filed Monday also show that Trump has leveraged his new fundraising ties with the national and state Republican parties to help pay his legal bills.
Trump has paid most of his legal bills through his leadership PAC, Save America, which reported raising $9 million in April — nearly double March’s raise. That’s largely thanks to money raised through one of Trump’s joint fundraising committees, which are tied to the RNC and each state party.
Two-thirds of Save America’s proceeds came from transfers through its joint fundraising committee. The committee allows donors to distribute one large check, which is then divided and distributed among participating groups based on contribution limits.
Save America spent nearly $3.2 million on “legal advice” when Trump’s hush money trial opened in New York, slightly less than the $3.7 million it spent on legal bills in March. That brings total legal expenditures since the start of 2023 to more than $62 million.
But Save America now has a lot more money to spend, having ended April with $8.8 million, twice as much as at the end of March.
The rest of Save America’s fundraising last month came largely from MAGA Inc., the pro-Trump super PAC. Save America gave the super PAC $60 million before Trump launched his presidential campaign in late 2022, but the big-spending group focused on his legal battle has clawed back that money as Trump’s legal troubles have mounted. The final refund was the last amount Save America transferred to MAGA Inc.
Save America also ended the month with more than $1.6 million in debt for “legal advice.” At the end of April, the committee owed $837,000 to Blanche Law, the firm of Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead attorney in the Manhattan trial. The PAC owed additional money to four other law firms.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
