U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a debt ceiling speech in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on October 4, 2021.
Nicholas Comb | AFP | Getty Images
A coalition consisting of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, the Democratic National Committee, the president’s joint fundraising committees and his allied super PAC began the year with far more money in the bank than any of his potential Republican opponents, according to new Federal Election Commission filings show .
The $140 million total represents a major advantage for the Democratic incumbent, even as Biden’s campaign struggles to reassemble the president’s winning coalition of voters for 2020.
“As Donald Trump torches money to cover his various… expenses, the Biden Harris team, backed by grassroots donors, is working hard to speak to the voters who will decide this election and build the campaign infrastructure to win in November. Biden campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo said in a statement on Wednesday.
Here’s a breakdown of the cash each Biden allied committee had on hand at the start of the year.
- Biden as president: $46 million
- Biden Victory Fund: $37 million
- Democratic National Committee: $21 million
- Biden Action Fund: $10 million
- Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund: $1.9 million
- Future Forward (pro-Biden super PAC): $24 million
Erasing Biden’s early lead in the money race will be a major challenge for the eventual Republican nominee.
GOP front-runner Donald Trump has proven he can raise enormous sums of money from small-dollar donors. But there are several factors complicating Trump’s fundraising efforts this year.
The first is the fact that the Republican National Committee has not yet endorsed a Republican primary candidate, preferring to remain neutral while the party’s primary is still active.
Even if the RNC supported Trump, it’s not clear how much help the committee could actually provide. According to a new filing, the RNC started the year with just $8 million in cash, less than half of what the DNC reported.
Trump also has several specific expenses that are draining his coffers, which Biden does not. Chief among them is how much the Trump campaign is spending on law firms as the president prepares for potentially four criminal trials in the coming year. In 2023, Trump’s campaign and allied committees spent $47 million on lawyers and legal fees, according to newly released filings.
Trump will also have to spend money to continue his primary campaign against his only remaining rival, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. Despite losing to Trump in both Iowa and New Hampshire last month, Haley has vowed to stay in the race.
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2024-02-01 06:46:03
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