Biden campaign announces massive fundraising haul

Biden campaign ahead of Obama 2012 but behind Trump 2020 campaign in final quarter fundraising year before re-election vote

President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee as well as their joint fundraising committees for the 2024 campaign took in more than $97m in the last three months of last year.

The campaign revealed the figures on Monday, showing that Mr Biden is ahead of where the Obama campaign was at a similar juncture, but behind then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, Politico notes.

During the last quarter of 2019, Mr Trump and the Republican National Committee had gathered more than $154m. In 2011, as then-President Barack Obama was running for re-election, his campaign and the DNC brought $68m during the last quarter.

In the third quarter of last year, Mr Biden and committees connected to his re-election effort gathered $71m. The Biden campaign noted on Monday that it has $117m in cash on hand.

The campaign has held onto much of its cash, holding back on spending, particularly at the beginning of 2023. In the last few months, the campaign has boosted spending, with a focus on TV ads.

Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said it was a “historic haul,” according to Politico.

“Our democracy and hard-fought basic rights and freedoms are on the line in 2024, and these numbers prove that the American people know the stakes and are taking action early to help defeat the extreme MAGA Republican agenda again,” she said.

In the last three months of 2023, more than 520,000 contributors donated funds to Mr Biden and the DNC. The campaign noted that 97 per cent of the donations were less than $200. They added that they organised 39 fundraisers during the most recent quarter. The campaign has around 130,000 people who donate every month. A competition to meet with Mr Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris raised more than $3m.

Mr Trump hasn’t revealed how much he raised during the final quarter of last year.

Democratic strategist Jessica Tarlov, a pundit on The Five on Fox News, said on the network that “they do have a good record run on in terms of winning elections”.

She noted that Mr Biden won in 2020 and then “Democrats went on to win the midterms, shocked everyone, the red wave that didn't happen”.

“And we've done super well on all of the ballot referendums that have been going on all over the country, especially in conservative states, fueled by Gen Z voter turnout,” she added. “So young people seem to be liking Democrats fine.”

She went on to note that “the Obama people know what they're talking about, about the ground game. We're here in Iowa where Barack Obama became a sensation and shock to everyone when he won Iowa in 2008. And you can learn a thing or two from them”.

“But for instance, the fundraising numbers came out today, Joe Biden – $97m taken in in Q4, $117m on hand, his team is outpacing what the Obama campaign did in 2011 – 97 per cent are grassroots donations,” she said. “I've heard ‘Oh, well, that's, you know, Hunter Biden's friends in Ukraine or in China that are sending that money over’ – No, it's regular people that want to support Joe Biden for president.”

“If you look at the Real Clear Politics average, Donald Trump is up by one percentage point now, in the average of the polls, so doesn't seem that bad – within the margin of error. It's going to be close, but the Biden campaign has a lot to be proud of,” she concluded.