In back-to-back months, former President Donald J. Trump has raised more money than President Biden did. In May and June, Trump outpaced his successor by about $81 million in donations. Coincidentally, that’s a dollar for every vote Biden received in 2020.
Trump is riding a predictable wave of financial support following his criminal conviction. Backers of the former president are fired up over what they call “lawfare.”
The war chests have flipped in just two months. Biden’ and the Democratic National Committee held an approximately $100 million financial edge over Mr. Trump and the Republican National Committee. Not anymore. Many say they only have themselves to blame for piling on the former president in indictment after indictment, while Biden remains untouched by the law after having, like Trump, top secret documents stored illegally.
Financial reports on Thursday revealed that, as both campaigns piled up their coffers ahead of the November 5 election, Donald Trump’s campaign for president reported having more cash in its primary account than Joe Biden’s campaign for reelection.
At the end of May, the Trump campaign had nearly twice as much money in the bank as it had a month earlier—roughly $116 million—while Biden’s campaign reported to the Federal Election Commission that it had slightly more money—approximately $91 million—than it had at the end of April.
Although both campaigns had a deadline of Thursday to declare their funds to the federal regulator, a number of their affiliated fundraising committees will not report on current activities until July, so the complete financial picture for the two camps remains unclear.
Previous reports from Biden’s campaign and his party touted $212 million in cash holdings, but they did not specify which groups held the funds.
Based on the numbers provided to the Federal Election Commission, the Trump campaign appears to have made a significant financial turnaround after trailing Biden early in the year. National public opinion surveys show a dead heat between the two candidates, but Trump is ahead in a number of crucial states.
The Republican Party, which is helping Trump fund his campaign, also announced an increase in its cash holdings, from $38 million to $54 million.
