Former U.S. President Trump’s fundraising amount has surpassed that of Democratic President Biden in the past two months, especially after being convicted in the New York “Hush Money Case” last month, resulting in a substantial increase in his fundraising and a sharp rise in his cash on hand.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) documents released on Thursday, June 20, showed that in May, Biden’s campaign team and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) raised a total of $85 million, while Trump’s campaign team and the Republican National Committee (RNC) raised $141 million. In April, Trump’s team raised $25 million more than Biden’s team.
Biden’s campaign team stated that as of the end of May, they and the DNC had cash on hand totaling $212 million. Trump’s campaign team and the RNC have not provided a full accounting of their cash on hand since the end of March. Partial statistics disclosed by the FEC on Thursday showed that Trump’s campaign team and the RNC had at least $170 million in cash.
Trump’s fundraising amount surpassed Biden’s in April and May consecutively, during which most of his energy was consumed by the trial in the New York “Hush Money Case,” leaving little time for campaign activities. Nevertheless, he did not face the fundraising deficit that might have been expected, but instead reaped huge gains. According to his campaign team, within 24 hours of the jury finding the former president guilty of all 34 felony charges, the team raised $53 million through online donations.
FEC documents showed that on the day after Trump was convicted, billionaire Timothy Mellon donated $50 million to a pro-Trump Super PAC.
Earlier in the 2024 election cycle, Biden had a significant cash advantage, but in the last two months, the gap between him and Trump has been narrowing.
Biden’s campaign team stated that since the start of the campaign, they have raised over $558 million, exceeding the funds raised at this stage by any other Democratic presidential campaign team in history.
The numbers released on Thursday do not include any funds raised in June, including the roughly $40 million Biden raised in the past few days.