President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has raised a whopping $30.3 million in the first quarter of this year, far outdoing the leading fundraisers among the Democrats.
The Trump campaign reports that nearly 99 percent of its donations were in the amount of $200 or less, with an average donation being around $34.26.
In all, the Trump campaign had $40.8 million cash on hand, an unprecedented war chest for an incumbent president so early in the campaign.
Trump’s fundraising was matched by the Republican National Committee (RNC), which raised in $45.8 million just in the first quarter — its highest non-election year total. Combined, the pro-Trump effort reported a huge $82 million in the bank.
Trump’s Democratic challengers
Among president Trump’s Democratic challengers, Sen. Bernie Sanders was leading the money race after taking in $18.2 million in the first quarter of this year. He was followed by Sen. Kamala Harris, with $12 million. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke ($9.4 million), South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg ($7 million) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren ($6 million) rounded out the top five fundraisers among Democrats.
President Trump’s fundraising along with the RNC has been divided between two entities: Trump Victory, the joint account used for high-dollar gifts, and also the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, the low-dollar digital fundraising operation known internally as “T-Magic.” The campaign is set to launch a traditional “bundling” program — which it lacked in 2016 — in the next coming weeks. Bundlers are mid-tier donors who bring in contributions from their associates.
Overall together, the Trump entities have raised a combined $165.5 million since 2017.
Republicans have trailed Democrats in online fundraising for roughly two decades. However, president Trump has closed that gap, driving small-dollar donors who make recurring donations to the GOP at rates the party has never ever seen before.
According to RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Trump’s campaign already has seen eight seven-figure fundraising days this year and has taken in money from over 1 million new online donors since Trump’s inauguration — including 100,000 this year.
The RNC said it was planning on spending $30 million on maintaining and growing Donald Trump’s email list alone, recently expanded its headquarters space to an annex in Virginia and will soon be investing in developing an app.
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