Trump Leads Biden in Monthly Campaign Fundraising for First Time

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(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump raised more money last month than Joe Biden for the first time this election cycle, but the president's campaign still has a broad financial edge over his Republican rival.

Biden and the Democratic Party raised $51 million in April, compared to $76 million raised by Trump and the Republican National Committee, according to statements from both campaigns. The president entered May with $192 million in cash, more than double what his rival reported having in the bank.

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Trump's fundraising surge comes on the heels of him attending several high-dollar fundraisers, including a Palm Beach event hosted by billionaire John Paulson, and drumming up support from major oil and gas donors.

Campaigns, political parties, and the major super PACs supporting them filed monthly reports with the Federal Election Commission. Here's how they stack up:

Joe Biden

• Biden and the Democratic National Committee raised $51 million in April, and ended the month with $192 million in cash
• Future Forward PAC, a Biden-appointed super PAC, raised $16 million and had $57 million cash on hand

Biden's re-election effort has raised a record amount for a Democratic nominee at this point in the election season. While his April fundraising has been overshadowed by Trump's, he still has a significant advantage in cash on hand. Unlike Trump, who faced a costly primary campaign, Biden faced only token opposition and managed to stockpile cash for November.

Its major fundraisers in April included events hosted by Michael Douglas, the actor and film producer who played Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film “Wall Street,” but small-dollar donors to the campaign made up the majority of donations. Larger contributors include “Family Guy” founder Seth MacFarlane, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Bain Capital’s Josh Beckenstein, and hedge fund manager Tom Steyer.

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The campaign added 1 million supporters to its email list during the month. Recurring donors accounted for $5.5 million of the total, and there are 225,000 donors who have committed to contributing each month.

Biden and the Democratic National Committee are exploiting the record war chest that his campaign and the Democratic Party have built. They have opened 150 field offices in hotly contested states. The Biden campaign has bought $34 million worth of media since Trump won the Republican nomination in March, while the former president has spent less than $70,000 on ads, according to AdImpact.

Outside groups supporting Biden, led by his main super PAC, Future Forward PAC, have pledged more than $1 billion to support him. Reed Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, gave $7 million to Future Forward PAC, while Chris Wanstrath, co-founder of GitHub, gave $500,000.

Pro-Biden super PAC American Bridge 21st Century raised $7.1 million and ended April with $12 million in cash. The group, which pledged to spend $140 million to focus on women and working-class voters using research conducted in swing states, received donations of $4.8 million from venture capitalist Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital and $2.6 million from the Democratic Political Action Committee affiliated with hedge fund manager George Soros.

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Donald Trump

• Trump raised $76 million in April for his campaign and the Republican Party. His campaign and the Republican National Committee ended the month with $89 million in cash
• His dedicated PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., has raised $12.8 million and started May with $34.5 million

Trump's first full month of fundraising as his party's presumptive nominee resulted in large donations from prominent donors. Among those who wrote large checks were Continental Resources' Harold Hamm, Midland Energy's Syed Anwar and Cantor Fitzgerald's Howard Lutnick. Other major donors include investment banker Warren Stevens, real estate and aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, and TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts.

He is increasingly relying on wealthy donors to narrow the gap with Biden, although his campaign said half of his money in April came from small-dollar contributors.

Make America Great Again Inc., a political action committee aligned with Trump, received a $10 million contribution from investor Timothy Mellon and $1 million from Hamm's Continental Resources. The Republican Jewish Coalition raised another $1 million for a super PAC. Hamm is co-hosting a fundraiser Wednesday for a Super PAC of Texas.

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Save America, the leading political action committee paying most of Trump's legal bills, received $9 million, $6 million of which was diverted from an entity that raises money from small-money donors. It spent $4.3 million, including $3.3 million in legal fees. The month of April ended with $8.8 million in the bank.

Trump was sidelined from the campaign trail in a criminal trial in Manhattan that entered its sixth week on Monday. Prosecutors accuse him of falsifying business records related to secret payments in the 2016 election, allegations he denies.

Robert F. kennedy jr

• Kennedy raised $10.7 million in April and started May with $10.1 million in cash.
• A super PAC allied with him raised $6.2 million and had $20.9 million in the bank.

The selection of Nicole Shanahan, the ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, as vice president has paid huge dividends for Kennedy's longstanding independent effort. It donated $8 million to his campaign in April, funding his efforts to secure ballot access as he mounts an independent challenge to Biden and Trump.

American Values ​​2024, a political action committee aligned with Kennedy, received a $5 million contribution from Mellon, who also donated to Trump's super PAC, and $1 million from Mark Gorton, founder of high-frequency trading giant Tower Research Capital.

(Updates on more Biden donors, in sixth paragraph.)

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