President Donald Trump now has the most funded re-election campaign in the history of sitting U.S. presidents, reported Politico.
Trump and the Republican National Coalition (RNC) have raised more than $300 million, Politico reports. Trump alone has $158 million cash on hand—more than any other candidates—in his re-election bid.
Trump is running re-election ads in key states. Trump’s campaign operation has spent about $23 million on TV and digital advertising in 2019 so far.
Trump is also ahead of donor identification. According to numbers released by the RNC, in the last fundraising quarter, Trump 2020 has identified more than 300,000 new donors for $4.2 million in advertising on Facebook over the past three months.
“We don’t know if the Democratic candidate is going to be able to even compete with such a shorter timeline, even if they have significant resources after the convention,” said Tara McGowan, founder and chief executive officer of the progressive group ACRONYM.
Democrats Are Starting to Worry
“The resources he has will be put to work anywhere and everywhere that he feels like he can scare up electoral votes, and Democrats will never catch up. It’s just too much money,” said Chris Lippincott, a Texas-based Democratic strategist.
Although the Democrats’ have collectively outraised Trump, the money is working at cross-purposes, Politico reports. The leading two candidates are giving cause for concerns about their fundraising.
Specifically, Joe Biden’s numbers decreased in the third quarter, leaving him with just $9 million on hand. Elizabeth Warren has nearly $26 million. She is cutting off high-dollar donors and refusing to appear at big-money fundraisers, according to the news. That approach may not help her fully fund a general election campaign.
“Elizabeth Warren has to figure out what is the best way to defeat Donald Trump if she’s the nominee. If the best way is to get on the phone with somebody because you need that commercial time in Ohio, then that’s what you do,” one Democratic strategist told the entertainment newsmagazine.
Mark Longabaugh, a senior adviser to Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, said Democrats’ potential fundraising imbalance with Trump “could be a huge challenge.”
“We don’t know if the Democratic candidate is going to be able to even compete with such a shorter timeline, even if they have significant resources after the convention,” said Tara McGowan, founder and chief executive officer of the progressive group ACRONYM, to Politico.
To compete with Trump, Democrats would need to raise the same amount of money in a much shorter period.
