The first Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing of the 2024 election season shows the campaign raked in $72 million — more than doubling the funds raised by the Trump campaign. The filings for President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump show a wide gap between the top Democratic and Republican contenders as donor money for GOP candidates is still split between a crowded field. Biden’s cash influx was from the campaign, as well as two fundraising committees and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The Republican National Committee (RNC) will not use resources to back a candidate until the party chooses its nominee next year. The Biden campaign alone raised $24.7 million, while his team is sitting on $91 million cash on hand. The third-quarter fundraising is more than any Republican campaign, while Biden’s current cash-on-hand is expected to be more than all GOP candidates combined. “This quarter’s fundraising haul and historic cash on hand speak to the very real enthusiasm and support President Biden and Vice President Harris continue to build for their reelection bid,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement. “We are especially proud of our efforts to exponentially grow our grassroots donor base, now having over a hundred thousand Americans signed up to donate on a recurring basis from now until Election Day,” she added. “These numbers are a testament to one of our core objectives early in this campaign: raise the resources needed to run an aggressive campaign that will win in November 2024.” The Biden-Harris campaign has doubled individual contributions and has brought in more than 240,000 new donors who did not contribute during the 2020 election cycle. Now, more than a third (34 percent) of the campaign’s donor base are new donors. The most common occupations among donors are teachers and nurses, the campaign said, while adding that 97 percent of all donations were under $200 and the average grassroots contribution was $40. “The numbers speak for themselves: Americans know the stakes of next year’s election and are supporting Team Biden-Harris with the urgency that this election warrants,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. “While Republicans continue to raise less money and bleed costs in a divisive primary, we are building the infrastructure necessary to aggressively reach voters with our message and compete in the general election.” Biden’s 2020 campaign raised more than $1 billion, the most money of any presidential campaign in history.The Biden campaign has 72 million reasons to be happy.
