Last month, Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee appeared to have gained a big financial advantage over Democrats after trailing earlier within the 12 months. Following Trump’s felony conviction on May 30 and President Joe Biden’s rocky performance on the June 27 debate, funds poured into his and the RNC’s war chests while Democrats burned through theirs. At the tip of June, the Trump campaign had nearly $45 million extra cash readily available than the Biden campaign, based on Federal Election Committee filings.
But Biden’s announcement on Sunday that he would drop out of the race and support Vice President Kamala Harris could have tipped the balance in Democrats’ favor again, prompting a historic wave of donations.
On Monday afternoon, Democratic fundraising website ActBlue reported that it had processed greater than $100 million in online donations because the president’s announcement. based on the locationHarris’ campaign alone announced that it had raised nearly $50 million for the brand new candidate lower than 24 hours after launching. On Sunday evening, ActBlue posted on social media that it was the largest fundraising day of the 2024 election cycle.
UPDATE: As of 9 p.m. ET, grassroots supporters have raised $46.7 million through ActBlue following the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, making it the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 campaign. Small donors are excited and able to get on this election 🔥
— ActBlue (@actblue) July 22, 2024
Certainly, the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump probably also led to a surge in fundraising for Republicans, although the July figures won’t be available until next month.
The flood of donations following Biden’s endorsement of Harris throws one other stone into the fundraising landscape for the 2024 election just as Trump was gaining momentum. Trump’s campaign announced it raised over $52 million following his guilty verdict within the hush money trial, breaking a Republican record for single-day fundraising. In the second quarter of 2024, Trump and the RNC raised greater than Biden and the Democrats, $331 million, to $264 million.
Although Democrats raised more cash in June than Trump and the RNC, in addition they spent heavily on promoting in a month that bankrupted their presumptive nominee. The Biden campaign used 93% of the cash raised in June, while the Trump campaign used just 46%. According to the newest FEC filing, the Trump campaign had $128 million in available funds, while Biden had just below $96 million.
It’s not only the previous president’s campaign that has seen a drop in donations in recent weeks. The RNC has seen an enormous boost since Trump was named the party’s presumptive nominee ahead of the convention last week. Between late May and late June, the committee nearly doubled its money reserves to $102 million.
In total, Republicans, together with the Trump campaign, its fundraising partners and the RNC, had $281 million at their disposal at the tip of June, while Biden and the Democrats had about $237 million.
The big query now will likely be whether Harris – or one other candidate the Democrats nominate for next month’s convention – can have access to the $96 million available to Biden.
If Harris is the nominee, the reply appears to be a reasonably clear “yes.” Since she was the president’s vice presidential nominee, Harris and Biden already share a campaign committee, meaning she is going to have access to existing funds if she runs as a presidential or vice presidential candidate in November, based on a note from former FEC Chairman Trevor Potter.
“It’s very clear,” says Dara Lindenbaum, a current FEC commissioner. said the New York Times“If Kamala Harris is the Democratic presidential candidate, she can control all the money in the account.”
If Harris shouldn’t be the nominee, the fate of Biden’s war chest is less clear. The FEC caps candidate-to-candidate donations at $2,000 per election, Potter explained within the memo. The Biden, or slightly Harris, campaign could issue a refund to donors or possibly transfer the funds to the Democratic Party.
Trump, for his part, suggested Truth Social after Biden’s announcement that he would refund Republicans the cash that they had already spent on campaigning against Biden because the presumptive nominee.
“We are forced to spend time and money fighting a fraudulent Joe Biden, who is polling poorly and dropping out of the race after a terrible debate,” Trump said. “Now we have to start all over again.”
