Trump Fundraising Crushes Warren and Sanders, More Than Doubles Biden's Best Quarter Ever
This was the headline when The Hill reported Thursday on how much the presidential candidates raised in the last part of the year: “Biden rakes in $22.7 million in fourth quarter of 2019.”
This is, of course, technically true.
Former Vice President Joe Biden was also not the top candidate in the Democratic field in that department.
That’d be Bernie Sanders; the Vermont senator managed to rake in a bit over $34 million in the last three months of 2019.
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, meanwhile, managed to haul in $24.7 million in the quarter.
Given the fact that Biden is considered the frontrunner, this doesn’t exactly augur well, particularly given his lack of cash on hand as he moves toward the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. The former vice president only has $9 million even with some impressive fundraising hauls.
I’m excited to share that we raised $22.7 million this last quarter — our biggest quarter so far this campaign! Thank you to everyone who chipped in what you could — your support means the world to me. You truly are the heart of our campaign. pic.twitter.com/L53z9YbLsX
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 2, 2020
Then there are the surprising stories, such as entrepreneur Andrew Yang taking in more than $16 million in the fourth quarter. Hey, a new variation on an old vegan joke: How do you know if someone is an Andrew Yang supporter? Don’t worry — they’ll tell you. And they’ll tell you like it was Chicago voting: early and often.
There are also the candidates who haven’t reported their totals yet, which is generally a bit like when a movie studio doesn’t screen a movie for film critics.
The big name in this department is Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who’s yet to let on how much money she pulled in in the last quarter. That’s seldom a good sign.
Her campaign did, however, make a point of releasing its Q4 total before the fundraising was over, if just because it desperately needed to drum up donations.
“So far this quarter, we’ve raised a little over $17 million. That’s a good chunk behind where we were at this time last quarter,” a Warren campaign email from last Friday read, according to Fox News.
“Elizabeth Warren needs your help. Right now. The goal is $20 million for the quarter — that’s how much the campaign needs to keep our plans on track,” it said.
All of this makes you wonder: Just how much did President Donald Trump raise in the fourth quarter?
Oh yeah, about that: way more than any of these folks — and he doesn’t have to spend a single cent on a primary.
Powered in part by the backlash to the Democrats’ impeachment of him, Trump managed to end up with $46 million in donations during the quarter with a war chest of over $100 million on hand.
That number is more than twice Biden’s best single-quarter fundraising total.
“President Trump’s unprecedented fundraising is testament to his wide grassroots support and his stellar record of achievement on behalf of the American people,” a statement from Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale read.
“Democrats and the media have been in a sham impeachment frenzy and the President’s campaign only got bigger and stronger with our best fundraising quarter this cycle,” the statement continued.
“The President’s war chest and grassroots army make his re-election campaign an unstoppable juggernaut,” Parscale added.
The Republican National Committee has also been pulling in some impressive numbers, too.
In November, the committee took in $20.6 million in donations for a total of $63.2 million in cash on hand — which is the most the party has had since the period just before the 2012 presidential election.
Look at that total and then look at Biden’s cash on hand. And yes, the Democratic National Committee has some cash, too — not much of it, though.
As of September, that cash amounted to $8.3 million to the RNC’s $53.8 million, according to Open Secrets. And this was before impeachment-mania began in earnest and turned into fundraising gold for the Republicans.
In other words, it’s not just that Trump is accumulating this much money. It’s that he doesn’t have to spend it on anything but attacking Democrats and spotlighting his successes.
Meanwhile, with a (mostly) wide-open primary, the Democrats are going to have to fritter away more limited resources attacking one another, at least if they want to win the nomination.
It’s also a sign that Republicans are pretty much behind Trump in a united manner. Meanwhile, if certain Democratic candidates win the nomination, it would turn off a substantial part of the electorate in an unprecedented way.
Warren, in particular, has alienated a large part of the big donor base.
In September, CNBC reported that “Democratic donors on Wall Street and in big business are preparing to sit out the presidential campaign fundraising cycle — or even back President Donald Trump — if Sen. Elizabeth Warren wins the party’s nomination.”
“You’re in a box because you’re a Democrat and you’re thinking, ‘I want to help the party, but she’s going to hurt me, so I’m going to help President,'” an anonymous Wall Street executive and large party donor said.
So, how is this going to help Warren if she ends up winning the nomination? Even when the party unites behind someone after the primary, there’s nothing to say they’ll truly “unite” behind that person. Until then, they’re going to be spending all that cash beating each other up. (Think “wine cave.” Then think “wine cave” splashed all over multimillion-dollar campaign ad blitzes.)
Meanwhile, the president and the RNC are stockpiling money. Occasionally, they use it to rip the disunited Democrats. For right now, they’re happy to selectively mock the left without many ads.
That’s going to make beating Trump in 2020 a lot more difficult than many expected it would be — no matter how much cash Joe Biden “rakes in.”
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