Tag: Fundraising

Pence Raised Just $1.2 Million in the First Quarter

Buck Banks

$1.2 million

“Mike Pence raised less than $1.2 million for his presidential campaign during the second quarter of this year, a figure that is a reflection of both the antipathy toward the former vice president among rank-and-file GOP voters and the deep skepticism among donors that he has a path to the Republican nomination,” the Washington Post reports.

DeSantis Fundraisers — A Million or Nuthin’

Buck Banks

$1 million

“It’s going to cost a lot to get Ron DeSantis to show up in person to collect political checks: about $1 million,” NBC News reports. “That’s the aggressive goal set to draw the Florida governor and likely 2024 presidential candidate to travel out of his way for fundraising events, according to three Republicans involved in efforts to raise cash for DeSantis during the shadow primary period.”

Trump’s Vaunted Fundraising Machine Is Faltering

Buck Banks

Illustration by the Daily Beast

If it were a business and not politics (I know, it’s a difference without a distinction), Donald Trump would be fired for mismanagement of his oft-touted fundraising prowess. Daily Beat’s Pay Dirt newsletter has a must-read piece on how Trump’s Save America Joint Fundraising Committee is spending a dollar to generate 10 cents of income, according to the latest Election Financing Commission report.

In fact, the spending was so steep that it ate up around 90 percent of what he raised. So while the committee took in an impressive $24 million, it spent about $22 million to get there. That means the famous dealmaker spent a dollar to make a little more than a dime.

Compare that trade-off to the previous quarter, where the same committee spent just $9.7 million but pulled in $17 million. That’s a $7 million return. Now, it’s $2 million.

Read the rest here.

There Are Reasons Trump-Backed Candidates Can’t Raise Money

Buck Banks

“A lot of candidates thought that the Trump endorsement automatically meant they’d raise a lot of money. They didn’t realize you have to do the work. Trump has always been a better attacker than a booster. Only so many right-wing candidates can go on Fox News and OAN, or even get booked. Not every Trump-endorsed candidate is made to go and say crazy stuff on TV.”

— A veteran GOP operative, quoted by National Journal, on the fundraising struggles of GOP candidates backed by Donald Trump.

Trump’s Candidates Can’t Raise the Do-Re-Me

Buck Banks

“Former President Trump has been a prolific fundraiser for himself. But in a sign of his diminishing influence within the Republican Party, Trump isn’t seeing his endorsements translate into campaign cash for his most high-profile allies on the campaign trail. It’s becoming clear Donald Trump’s popularity isn’t easily transferable to candidates who aren’t named Trump.”

— National Journal

Sanders Raises $10 Million in First Week of Candidacy

Buck Banks

$10 million

New York Times: “By Monday, after less than a week as a presidential candidate, Mr. Sanders has collected $10 million from 359,914 donors, campaign officials said. But perhaps just as daunting a figure for his rivals is this: Nearly 39 percent of those donors used an email address that had never before been used to give to Mr. Sanders. … For Mr. Sanders, the flood of money from fresh email addresses suggested to his team that he was dramatically expanding a donor network that had already dwarfed his 2020 competition.”