Former President Donald Trump amassed a multi-million dollar fundraising haul in the days after he was arrested in Georgia on charges tied to the 2020 election.
In the 48 hours that followed the release of Trump’s first mugshot on Thursday, his campaign reportedly gathered $7.1 million while selling merchandise displaying the image.
Friday alone was the highest-grossing day of the entire campaign with an intake of $4.18 million, POLITICO reported, citing a source familiar with the totals.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung trumpeted the numbers in a post to X on Saturday. He said the campaign raised close to $20 million in the past three weeks, coinciding with a separate 2020 election indictment in Washington, D.C., and Trump getting booked in Atlanta last week.
“Organic money has skyrocketed, especially after @realDonaldTrump tweeted out the picture along with the website URL,” Cheung added in pointing out Trump’s first post to X, formerly known as Twitter, since January 2021.
Trump leads the GOP field in polling, and his campaign is also leading the pack when it comes to fundraising.
In the second quarter, which closed at the end of June, Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings showed Trump raised $35 million and had $22.5 million cash on hand, according to Bloomberg.
The next-closest GOP contender was Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who raised $20.1 million in the second quarter and had $12.2 million on hand. DeSantis also generally comes in second place in national polling.
Despite the large gaps between the numbers, several factors complicate the overall picture on the Republican side.
For instance, Trump formally announced his re-election effort in November, while DeSantis did not launch his campaign until May. In addition, DeSantis has groups supporting him with much stronger cash-on-hand numbers in the tens of millions above those backing Trump, as shown by The New York Times. And much of the money flow toward Trump is being directed to legal bills as the former president seeks to fend off a quartet of indictments.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) has also put together a formidable war chest, reporting about $21 million cash on hand at the end of June, and has attracted the support of some prominent GOP megadonors.
The rest of the GOP hopefuls so far have not attained the same level of fundraising muscle.
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The only other candidate who raised double-digit millions in the second quarter was North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, who is largely self-funding his campaign. Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who has worked his way up to third place in polling, raised $7.7 million in the last quarter — yet another figure bolstered by personal wealth.
Among the Democrats, President Joe Biden is dominating in fundraising and the polls as he seeks a second term in office.
Biden had $20.1 million cash on hand by the end of June after raising $19.9 million in the second quarter. The next-closest Democrat is Robert F. Kennedy, who had $4.5 million cash on hand on June 30 after drawing $6.4 million in the second quarter. Biden also boasts a pair of joint-fundraising committees, which brought in tens of millions more dollars to himself and other Democrat operations.
Though some other GOP candidates are far behind the overall money-raising leaders, several met the fundraising and polling criteria to participate in the first 2024 Republican primary debate in Milwaukee last week.
DeSantis, Scott, Ramaswamy, and Burgrum qualified. There were also former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former United Nations Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.
Trump declined to take part in the event, opting instead to do an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson.