Republicans are raising concerns about their fundraising ahead of the November elections as former President Donald Trump’s campaign struggles to keep up to President Joe Biden’s.
Biden raised nearly $127 million to compete against Trump by the end of February, with about $71 million cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data. Last week, he raised an additional $25 million at a New York City fundraiser. Trump had raised only about $99 million in the period, with about $33.5 million in cash on hand, according to FEC data.
Trump’s fundraising deficit comes as both candidates have secured enough delegates in their respective primaries to secure their party’s presidential nominations, setting up a likely rematch of 2020.
While Trump has lagged in fundraising, polls have shown him with a slight, yet narrowing, lead over Biden, and he is holding a fundraiser this week that could see him raise up to $33 million in an attempt to close the money gap.
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Several prominent conservatives have called attention to Republicans’ fundraising issues, which could be further complicated by some donations to the Republican National Committee (RNC) going toward Trump’s legal bills in his various criminal cases.
Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk issued a warning about Trump’s fundraising in a post to X, formerly Twitter, last week.
“Tonight will be the largest fundraiser in political history – $25,000,000 in hard money raised in a single evening for Biden,” he wrote. “This is more raised in one night than Trump raised the entire month of February. Democrats are beginning to fine tune their messaging, and they have a standing army of 5,000+ full-time organizers on the ground in the key states. We are outgunned and will be outspent. The polls are tightening. Time to get to work. The country is at stake.”
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade said there is “no doubt about” whether Biden would outraise Trump last week.
“They’re going to outraise Republicans. I think that goes without saying, especially when the president’s got to diverge some of his fees for courts,” he said. “And there’s no doubt about it, he’s a one-man army. And he’s going against, really, three presidents.”
On Monday, commentator Liz Peek noted Biden’s financial advantage over Trump during a discussion on Fox Business’s Mornings With Maria Bartiromo.
“Money. They have money,” she said after Bartiromo asked what other advantages the Biden campaign has other than abortion.
U.S. Army veteran Peter Henlein, a conservative who has been critical of Trump, warned about down-ballot fundraising effects in a post to X.
“The combination of terrible MAGA candidates (Moreno, Lake etc) + Trumps’s drag on all down ballot candidates + terrible RNC fundraising = the GOP is going to completely waste the most favorable Senate map for Republicans of our lifetimes,” he wrote.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign and RNC for comment via email.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.