The campaign of Joe Biden was going to use an avalanche of money to bury Donald Trump.
With Trump outraising Biden in consecutive months—raking in big sums following his 34 felony convictions and erasing Biden’s traditional financial edge—his backers are ready for a slugfest without the luxury of a fatter wallet.
Like Trump’s supporters did when Biden had a larger financial lead, Democrats have mostly played off Trump’s new financial lead, claiming the president will have enough money to compete.
But behind closed doors, a number of Democratic strategists and contributors were in utter shock.
One Biden bundler, who wished to remain anonymous in order to speak freely, stated, “There was the strategy of raising all this money on the front end so we could have this huge edge.” You know, we’re now even as we enter June… The whole idea was to come out ahead monetarily. The only term that comes to mind when I think about Biden’s followers is “depression.”
Under the same condition of anonymity, another prominent Biden bundler described the news as “disappointing, but not surprising.”
When it came to the 2024 fundraising race, Trump had more cash on hand and raised more money than Biden. Even Republican megadonors have been doling out massive sums to Trump recently, with one such donor, Timothy Mellon, donating $50 million to a super PAC that supports Trump.
According to some Biden backers, they anticipated and even prepared for Trump to catch up to Obama in fundraising in the summer of 2012, when Romney caught up to then-President Obama. This happened after Trump won the Republican nomination. According to Chip Forrester, who was a co-chair of the Biden-Harris Southern fundraising committee, one reason for the difference between the campaigns was that Biden was spending more money and constructing “out an unbelievable campaign structure in battleground states,” while Trump had done absolutely nothing.
“That early money counted because it allowed Biden to build out all of these offices, which have been cranking along. That’s not something Trump can catch up on,” said Alan Kessler, a donor from Pennsylvania. “The Biden campaign was getting boots on the ground in February, March, April, and May, and Trump can’t get those months back.”
The Trump campaign has characterized its internal operations as “leaner,” with a heavy reliance on outside organizations to carry it out.
Without a big fundraising event, May was the second-best fundraising month for the Biden campaign, according to aides. This was true both in terms of total revenue and grassroots fundraising. Their funders shared the view that the one thousand people employed by them and the two hundred offices they have set up on the battlefield prove that their investment was worthwhile.
According to Quentin Fulks, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, “Our campaign, from the moment we’ve started, is more focused on what we’re doing with our resources rather than trying to play a game of who’s raising what.” This statement was made in an interview with AWN. We are putting all of our money into field operations.
As far as Biden’s fundraising efforts were concerned, there was some good news. Following a lackluster April, the Biden campaign also experienced a fundraising rebound in May. Biden also received a boost from former NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg, who last week donated $1 million to the campaign and $19 million to a pro-Biden super PAC.
Following two glamorous events in northern Virginia and Los Angeles, the campaign received approximately $40 million last week. First Lady Jill Biden’s fundraiser in Philadelphia, set to take place on Monday, has reportedly sold out and “we’re putting people on the waitlist,” according to Kessler.
The Biden campaign also implied that the latest allegations exaggerate its financial situation. According to the campaign, their combined fundraising committees brought approximately $212 million. The combined fundraising totals of the Trump campaign and his affiliated committees will not be publicly available until July, when the campaigns will submit their reports to the Federal Elections Commission.
Howard Wolfson, a senior political advisor to Bloomberg, stated, “I don’t think either one of these candidates is going to lose because of a lack of resources.” Their efforts will be well-funded and equipped with more than enough resources to spread their message, in my opinion.
But Biden is now trailing in the money race during the general election campaign, which is a first. Trump and the Republican National Committee had $116.5 million in cash, according to the records filed Thursday night, while Biden and the Democratic National Committee had $91.6 million in the bank.
According to Trump campaign spokesperson Brian Hughes, “There is more and more evidence that the momentum of President Trump coming out of a historic primary election season is growing as we move to November.” This evidence can be found in various forms such as fundraising, polling, crowds at public events, and enthusiasm among American voters. The most recent uptick in donations, which eliminated the campaign’s financial edge in May, is indicative of this.
There may be another avalanche of cash due to Trump’s sentencing in July, contrary to Democrats’ claims that his conviction was a one-time event that juiced small-dollar contributors in May. As an opportunity to increase internet contributions and grassroots funding, Democrats have pointed to the forthcoming June 27 presidential debate.
Some Democrats, however, are understandably irritated that the same people who gave generously to Biden in 2020 are now sitting on their money. Donors “who are sitting on the sidelines” were the subject of at least two bundlers’ concerns, according to one anonymous contributor who spoke freely about the matter.
“We need some more [donors] to come online, and I think that’ll happen,” stated Bradley Beychok, co-founder of American Bridge, one of the largest pro-Biden super PACs. “Everyone must be present, actively participating, and increasing their effort from 2020 levels. On both sides, new faces are rising to the challenge, and we, too, have gained allies.
The former vice president was criticized by Michael Tyler, who worked for Joe Biden, in an interview with AWN. Tyler said that Trump had been “suckering small-dollar donors into giving their hard-earned money to pay off the legal fees of a convicted felon — and not spending a dime talking to actual voters.”
Democrats are very concerned about the support that Trump’s fundraising levels reflect, even if the quantities themselves aren’t causing widespread alarm.
“What Democrats should worry about is that it’s even within distance — that the money is going on at Trump’s side at such a clip,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a prominent Democratic strategist based in New York. A person with a criminal record could seem to be out of touch, but he’s actually quite well-off financially. For Democrats, that poses a serious issue.
His argument was that a candidate with a criminal record should not even be considered financially. It would be more appropriate for the Democrats to inquire, “How is this possible?” That is the matter that ought to concern them.
