Biden campaign's spending explodes in third quarter

• Biden's campaign team is ramping up with several dozen new staffers in its new headquarters in Wilmington, Del., and millions of dollars in TV and social media ads.

Driving the news: The campaign said it raised more than $71 million in the third quarter, a little less than the $72 million Biden raised during the second quarter with the Democratic National Committee and joint fundraising committees.

• The Biden team added $14 million to its cash-on-hand during the third quarter and now has a total of $91 million.

Biden's third-quarter fundraising haul is far behind that of former President Trump and the Republican National Committee at this point during Trump's re-election campaign in 2019. They raised $125 million during that period and had $156 million cash on hand through Trump's various fundraising committees.

• The Trump campaign spent about $69 million in the third quarter of 2019.
• "We don't take our cues from the 'death star,' " a Biden campaign spokesperson quipped to Axios, referring to what the Trump campaign called itself in 2020, only to lose the election.
• Former President Obama — the last Democrat to run for re-election — and the DNC raised about $70 million during the same period in 2011.

Biden's team highlighted that it has more cash on hand than any of their 2024 Republican rivals.

• That's because individual donors can give a maximum of $6,600 to those GOP campaigns between the primary and general election, while they can donate up to $929,600 to Biden's joint fundraising committee, per an agreement between the campaign, the DNC and state Democratic parties.
• Once there is a GOP nominee, that candidate will be able to raise funds with the RNC.
• Trump's campaign said this month that it had more than $37.5 million cash on hand entering October — including $36 million for use in the primary — and raised more than $45.5 million during the third quarter.

By the numbers: Biden's team told Axios it has spent about $10 million of a previously announced $25 million TV ad buy.

• It also has spent nearly $5 million on Facebook and Google ads in the past three months, according to Bully Pulpit.

Zoom in: The campaign did not disclose how much money it raised from small-dollar donors, a metric of grassroots enthusiasm.

• Asked by Axios for the amount, the campaign declined to say — adding only that during the third quarter it doubled the number of donors who have committed to giving every month.

Between the lines: The Biden campaign has struggled to generate grassroots interest and small-dollar donations, which are those under $200.

• Biden's campaign and its joint fundraising committee brought in $10.2 million from small donors last quarter, about half of Obama's $21.2 million haul during the same period in 2011.
• Biden also struggled to raise money from small-dollar donors during the 2020 primary, but saw such donations explode in the general election match-up against Trump.

Biden's campaign has tried to ramp up its small-dollar operation by deploying Obama and the online meme "Dark Brandon."

• A fundraising contest to meet Biden and Obama and get a picture taken with both brought in nearly $2.5 million, the campaign said.
• The campaign also found fundraising success with "Dark Brandon" — an online meme portraying Biden as a conniving, behind-the-scenes mastermind.
• "Dark Brandon" mugs and the web videos the president filmed with them "drove close to $2M in revenue since August, and led to an 850% increase in sales month-over-month from July to August," the campaign said in a statement.

Go deeper: Kamala Harris' big-donor mission