United States: May was the second consecutive month that former President Donald Trump and his political organization outraised President Joe Biden. This was due to a deluge of donations following Trump’s criminal conviction, which swiftly reduced Biden’s financial edge throughout most of the campaign.
Surge in Donations Post-Conviction
According to a statement from his campaign, Biden and the Democrats raised $85 million in May. This amount falls far short of the astounding $141 million that Trump and his team claimed to have raised last month, thanks mainly to ten million of dollars almost to wake of his May 30 conviction in a New York criminal case for falsifying business records.
Biden’s Financial Cushion
The Biden campaign announced on Thursday that his committees have an enormous $212 million financial cushion as of June 1. The amount of cash on hand for each committee inside the Trump campaign has yet to be made public.
Although campaigns are only required to disclose financial information the following month, Federal Election Commission documents released late on Thursday provided a partial image. They revealed that as of May 31, Biden’s main campaign account held $91.6 million, while Trump’s central committee had more than $116.5 million. This represents a dramatic reversal of fortune from just one month prior when Biden had a $35 million cash advantage.
Fundraising Efforts and Campaign Infrastructure
The Biden team boasted about recruiting over 1,000 staff members in battleground states in tandem with the Democratic Party. It claimed that its war fund, which was amassed throughout the campaign, had contributed to establishing a sizable campaign infrastructure.
The sum that the Biden team disclosed on Thursday does not account for the president’s recent fundraising frenzy. He raised almost $30 million over the weekend at a star-studded dinner that included former President Barack Obama and Hollywood heavyweights like George Clooney and Julia Roberts, setting a Democratic record.
Additionally, his campaign on Thursday highlighted that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg had contributed close to $20 million to his reelection and according to a campaign spokesperson, the billionaire, who competed against Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary, contributed the maximum amount of $929,600 to the Biden Victory Fund, the campaign’s joint fundraising vehicle with Democratic Party organizations.
Legal Fees Impact on Trump’s Campaign
Additionally, Bloomberg contributed $19 million to the FF PAC, the primary super PAC supporting Biden’s reelection campaign.
American Values 2024, a super PAC allied with Kennedy, did not disclose any more contributions from Mellon in its financial activity reports for May. However, Democrats have emphasized Mellon’s financial backing of both men in an attempt to paint Kennedy—the scion of a legendary Democratic family—as a GOP-backed spoiler candidate.
As Trump’s criminal trial in New York came to an end, Thursday’s disclosures also revealed that legal bills were further depleting his campaign’s financial resources.
85% of the funds his Save America leadership PAC spent last month—more than $3.6 million—went toward legal fees. Save America has been the campaign’s primary fundraising tool. Trump’s principal defense lawyer in the criminal trial, Todd Blanche, got almost half of it, or $1.8 million, to his law business. Additionally, the PAC had outstanding legal expenses of $861,000 as of June 1.
Since Trump took office, Save America has paid more than $83 million in legal fees.
