Fundraising takeaways: Trump and DeSantis in their own tier as Pence and other Republicans struggle
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Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are dominating the fight for campaign cash in the Republican presidential contest, according to federal filings made public Saturday. While some struggled, like former Vice President Mike Pence, others reported significant hauls that help ensure the GOP's 2024 primary will be crowded for the foreseeable future.
Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are dominating the fight for campaign cash in the Republican presidential contest, according to federal filings made public Saturday. While some struggled, like former Vice President Mike Pence, others reported significant hauls that help ensure the GOP's 2024 primary will be crowded for the foreseeable future.
On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden's reelection campaign has quickly amassed a sizeable fortune. But longshot Democratic primary opponent Robert Kennedy Jr. also raised enough to ensure he won't be ignored.
Overall, the 2024 presidential class's second-quarter filings with the Federal Election Commission, covering the period between April 1 and June 30, leave unanswered several questions. For example, the total numbers of individual donors for each campaign, a figure tied directly to GOP debate participation, won't be known until the end of the month.
And each candidate's allied super PACs, which in some cases account for the majority of their campaign's cash, won't file latest figures until the end of the month.
Still, the federal reports offer several insights six months before the first primary votes are cast. Here are some key takeaways:
While Trump is leading most polls, he and DeSantis are in a tier of their own on the fundraising front.
Trump's team recently confirmed that his joint fundraising operation -- which splits money between Trump's campaign and the Save America PAC -- received $35 million in the second quarter. The campaign did not say how much of that $35 million went to the campaign and how much went to Save America, which has covered non-campaign related expenses in the past, including Trump's legal bills.
