Biden holds big cash edge as Trump's new-look RNC steps up fundraising

Former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are stepping up their fundraising, new reports show — but President Joe Biden and the Democrats maintained a healthy cash edge at the start of this month.

The Republican National Committee raised more than $32 million in April, its first full month under Trump’s hand-picked new leadership, a 55% increase from the previous month. And combined, the Trump campaign and the national party had more than $88 million banked away by the end of last month, a significant uptick since before Trump became the party’s presumptive nominee.

But even with that uptick, the Democratic National Committee reported raising almost $35.5 million in April to the RNC’s $32 million. And most significantly, Biden’s campaign reported raising more than 2.5 times more money into its campaign account than Trump’s did: $24.1 million to $9.4 million.

While both candidates and the national parties filed monthly reports with the Federal Election Commission, other key, affiliated fundraising committees were not required to open their books yet, which most likely leaves millions of dollars out of the full financial picture for now. In another development, the arm of Trump’s political operation paying his legal fees got a significant boost.

But an analysis of the new filings and statements from both campaigns paint an important picture of how the fundraising race is shaping up, with Biden looking to build on an organizational advantage as he faces a major fight to hold on to his office.

Statements released by both campaigns suggested that Trump’s fundraising operation outraised Biden’s in April, again pointing to the fact that some money could be sitting in other committees awaiting transfer to the main players on the GOP side. The Trump campaign and the RNC said this month its operation raised $76 million last month, and the Biden campaign said Monday its operation (which also includes the national party and other affiliated groups) raised $51 million.

Neither the RNC nor the Trump campaign responded to questions seeking further details about which committees that $76 million was raised to.

Even so, Democrats still have a big resource advantage. Biden and the DNC started May with $146 million in cash on hand, compared to the $88 million for Republicans.

Still, the fundraising uptick is welcome news for Republicans, and it comes as the party is settling in under the new leadership of RNC chair Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law. The cash boost also comes after a string of high-profile, high-dollar fundraisers by Trump in recent weeks, as well as an intense fundraising push around his trial in New York.

Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Monday that Trump’s fundraising haul came despite his spending significant time in court. “The momentum is 100% on President Trump’s side,” she said.

But while April looks to have been a strong month for the GOP, Biden has continued to flex a massive resource advantage. His campaign has raised more than $104 million directly since the start of the year, compared to $44.5 million for Trump, which has fueled the massive cash-on-hand edge and, Democrats argue, the kind of campaign that can win in the fall. Biden’s campaign has far outstripped Trump’s this year in ad spending and building out a big campaign organization in key swing states.

Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement that the April fundraising is giving the campaign “the resources necessary to invest in opening offices, hiring organizers and communicating across our battleground states in order to mobilize the coalition of voters who will decide this election.”

Trump’s party ties boost funds for legal bills

The campaign finance reports filed Monday also show that Trump has leveraged his new fundraising ties with the national and state Republican parties to help pay his legal bills.

Trump has been paying most of his legal bills through his leadership PAC, Save America, which reported raising $9 million in April — nearly double its haul from March. That’s largely thanks to money raised through one of Trump’s joint fundraising committees, which is tied to the RNC and each state party.

Two-thirds of Save America’s haul came from transfers through the joint fundraising committee. The committee allows donors to cut one large check, which is then divided up and parceled out to participating groups according to contribution limits.

Save America spent nearly $3.2 million on “legal consulting” as Trump’s hush money trial in New York kicked off, slightly less than the $3.7 million it spent on legal bills in March. That brings its total legal spending to more than $62 million since the start of 2023.

But Save America has much more money to spend now, having ended April with $8.8 million on hand, twice as much as it had to spend at the end of March.

The rest of Save America’s fundraising last month came largely from MAGA Inc., the pro-Trump super PAC. Save America gave the super PAC $60 million before Trump launched his presidential campaign in late 2022, but the big-spending group focused on his legal fights has been clawing back that money as Trump’s legal woes have mounted. The latest refund was the last of the funds Save America had transferred to MAGA Inc.

Save America also ended the month carrying more than $1.6 million in debt for “legal consulting.” At the end of April, the committee owed $837,000 to Blanche Law, the firm of Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead attorney in the Manhattan trial. The PAC owed additional money to four other law firms.