Biden's colossal cash advantage
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President Biden at the White House earlier this month. Photo: Nathan Howard/Getty Images
President Biden's re-election team now has $130 million in the bank, while the Republican National Committee has little cash and Donald Trump's team is spending tens of millions on legal bills.
Why it matters: Despite Democratic angst over the president's poor polling, the Biden campaign announced Tuesday morning that it raised $42 million in January — adding to his vast fundraising advantage over Trump and the RNC.
- The RNC started the year with over $8 million in cash on hand and Trump's campaign had $33 million on hand. Neither has released their fundraising totals for January.
- Biden, the DNC, and other affiliated committees continued to rake in contributions while his Republican rivals still attack each other — and Trump's legal challenges show no signs of going away.
State of play: Nikki Haley raised $16.5 million in January, including $11.7 million from grassroots supporters, according to her campaign.
- Trump's political fundraising apparatus spent more than $50 million on legal costs last year.
- Trump hasn't wrapped up his party's nomination. But he is already plotting to kick out RNC leadership and install his own people — including top campaign aide Chris LaCivita, who'll also retain his campaign hat.
Reality check: Incumbent presidents often have a financial advantage going into an election year — as Trump and the RNC did against Democrats at this point in 2020 before Biden ultimately made up ground.
What they're saying: "While Team Biden-Harris continues to build on its fundraising machine, Republicans are divided — either spending money fighting Donald Trump, or spending money in support of Donald Trump's extreme and losing agenda," said Julie Chávez Rodríguez, Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager.
By the numbers: In January, some 422,000 different donors made 502,000 contributions to Biden's reelection effort, the campaign said.
- In total, the campaign has received contributions from 1.1 million donors.
- Since Biden launched his reelection campaign, approximately 97% of all their donations have been under $200.
- Along the way, the campaign added more than 1 million emails to its mailing list.
