The campaign is getting real for political donors

Donald Trump put up a roaring fundraising quarter, harnessing large and small donors to vanquish President Joe Biden’s cash advantage — and refilling the coffers of the national party, too.

The former president, who fundraised aggressively off his New York hush money trial and conviction, is also set to be boosted by several new super PACs, attached to longtime GOP megadonors newly jumping into the presidential race, according to fundraising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission late Monday.

But down-ballot, the picture looked rosier for Democrats. Several of the party’s Senate candidates in key races lapped their Republican opponents in fundraising. And a handful of Democratic House challengers in battleground seats raised at least $1 million over the second quarter of the year, startling totals that could force Republicans to spend more on the defensive.

The latest fundraising reports, which covered April to June, provided the deepest look yet at the megadonors giving to support Trump and Biden, as well as fundraising across crucial battleground races that could shape control of the House and Senate next year.

Trump’s fundraising completely took off during his trial

For much of the cycle, Trump trailed far behind Biden in fundraising. But that changed during the second quarter, the new filings show, as his fortunes reversed thanks to his New York trial.

The former president’s primary digital fundraising committee, Trump National Committee, raised $139 million over three months, including $69 million from donors giving less than $200, while burning $45 million on fundraising expenses. Another digital-first committee, Trump Save America, raised $28 million, including $11.7 million from small donors.

The total from the two groups combined more than doubled what Trump Save America raised over the previous quarter, when it was Trump’s only digital fundraising committee.

The guilty verdict against Trump appears to have been the biggest fundraising driver: Among donors giving at least $200, the threshold at which committees are required to itemize the donations, Trump National Committee had its best fundraising days on the day he was convicted and the three days after. The June 27 debate was the committee’s fifth-best day among itemized donors.

Biden hardly had a bad quarter: His primary joint fundraising committee, Biden Victory Fund, raised $176 million, including $40 million from small donors, for the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state parties. The group spent $48 million on fundraising. Biden’s direct campaign fundraising and spending for June won’t be reported until later this week.

In recent weeks, Biden has trumpeted his small-dollar fundraising as evidence Democratic voters are still backing his beleaguered campaign, even after his poor debate performance. But Democrats close to the Biden campaign have raised alarms over that grassroots fundraising faltering . Last week, projections for small-dollar fundraising showed “massive revisions downward” for the month, after donations for $200 and under slowed significantly after an initial bump tied to the debate.

Earlier this spring, Trump’s small-dollar bonanza following his felony convictions helped him erase Biden’s financial lead, while the president’s team acknowledged in May that their grassroots money machine hadn’t yet kicked into high gear.

Big checks for GOP super PACs

Some familiar names injected big dollars into Republican super PACs this quarter — indicating that Republicans are ready to jump into the election in a serious way.

America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC launched in May, reported $8.7 million raised, including $1 million each from former Jimmy John’s chair James J. Liautaud, Alliance Resource Partners CEO Joe Craft, former Sequoia Capital managing Partner Douglas Leone, Valor Equity Partners CEO Antonio Gracias and a firm linked to Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. The super PAC spent $7.7 million through the end of June, mostly on canvassing. Elon Musk has also been linked to the PAC , although he did not make any contributions through the end of June.

Another new super PAC, Preserve America, got $5 million from casino billionaire Miriam Adelson. The PAC has spent little so far, but has big plans to boost Trump .

It was a big quarter for down-ballot super PACs too. The Congressional Leadership Fund, which is affiliated with Republican House leadership, raised $68 million over three months, driven by $10 million from Citadel founder Ken Griffin, $10 million from Elliott Management founder Paul Singer and $5 million from Adelson. The group’s major Democratic counterpart, House Majority PAC, will officially report its June fundraising later this week, but said it raised $51 million between the super PAC and an affiliated nonprofit in the second quarter.

Trump’s big fundraising quarter lifted the RNC too

The Republican National Committee significantly lagged its Democratic counterpart in available cash earlier this year. But it appears to be catching up, thanks largely to a joint fundraising committee with Trump that’s attracted some deep-pocketed donors.

Trump 47 Committee, which divvies up donations to the RNC, Trump’s campaign and leadership PAC, and dozens of state parties, transferred more than $67 million to the RNC in the second quarter, according to the joint committee’s latest report. Much of that money came from the largest donors: 51 donors gave at least $500,000 each to Trump 47. From each of those donors, $413,000 went directly to the RNC, accounting for more than $21 million it raised in the second quarter.

And millions more dollars that went through Trump 47 to state parties later made their way back to the RNC. The Republican Party of Guam, for example, received $642,000 from Trump 47 in the second quarter — and then transferred $621,000 to the RNC, according to its filing.

There are a few caveats with the big donor money: Much of it is reserved for the party’s special accounts — like legal expenses or convention funds — and can’t go toward expenses such as advertising or voter outreach. The details of just how much the RNC has raised, and how much it has in the bank, won’t be available until the committee files its own report later this week.

But the party had been woefully behind its Democratic counterparts for the entire cycle — and the joint fundraising reports reveal just how quickly the party committee has been able to turn things around.

Senate Democrats raised way more than Republicans — again

Democrats massively outraised Republicans in key Senate races — in several of them by a 2:1 margin. That financial dominance remains a lifeline for a Democratic Party staring down a brutal Senate map.

But Republicans have recruited several rich candidates who can provide a financial cushion for their campaigns — quickly winnowing that gap.

In Montana, perhaps the toughest seat Democrats are actively trying to defend, Sen. Jon Tester raised $10.6 million over the quarter compared to $5.3 million for Republican Tim Sheehy, who is personally wealthy and has put $2.5 million into his own campaign. In Ohio, the other seat where a Democratic incumbent is running for reelection in a state Trump won in 2020, Sen. Sherrod Brown brought in a whopping $12.8 million, while his challenger, businessman Bernie Moreno, raised only $4.4 million.

Other good stats for Democrats: Tester has more than three times the cash on hand that Sheehy had at the end of June. And Brown’s massive hauls allowed him to spend a whopping $18 million dollars — 10 times more than Moreno.

In Arizona, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego brought in $10.4 million compared to just $4.3 million for Republican Kari Lake, as the pair vie for the seat currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema , the Democrat-turned-independent who isn’t seeking reelection. Gallego has over three times more cash-on-hand ($9.2 million) than Lake ($2.8 million).

In Nevada, Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen raised $7.6 million to Republican Sam Brown’s $4 million. In Michigan, Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin raised three times more ($6.5 million) than former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers ($2 million), the heavy favorite in next month’s primary, and had nearly four times the amount of cash on hand.

There were a few bright spots in the filings for Republicans. In Pennsylvania, Sen. Bob Casey , a Democrat, still outraised businessman Dave McCormick, $8 million to $6.7 million, from early April through the end of June, but McCormick’s lower spending allowed him to pull close to even in terms of cash on hand.

In the open-seat race in Maryland, popular former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan was nearly even in fundraising with Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, who hauled in $5.3 million to Hogan’s $5.1 million. And in Wisconsin, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin raised $7.5 million, roughly $236,000 more than Republican Eric Hovde, who is self-funding. But both Democrats had more cash on hand than their opponents.

Vulnerable House incumbents pad their cash reserves

As the general election kicks into high gear and campaigns prepare to drop serious money over the next few months, the size of their bank accounts matter.

Some of the most highly watched and expensive campaigns on the battleground map will be taking place in 21 crossover districts: places where Republicans hold seats won by Biden in 2020, and Democrats represent Trump-won districts.

For the most part, these vulnerable incumbents maintained an edge over their challengers when it comes to cash on hand. Of the 16 Republicans representing a seat that Biden won in 2020, 10 had more in their coffers compared to their Democratic opponent. The five Democrats running in Trump-won districts all had vastly larger cash on hand amounts than their GOP counterparts — and they outraised them, too. All but one, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), brought in more than $1 million last quarter. (Kaptur clocked in at $950,000.)

The Republican incumbents who have less on hand than their challengers were Arizona Rep. Juan Ciscomani ; California Rep. Mike Garcia ; Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon ; and New York Reps. Anthony D’Esposito , Mike Lawler and Marc Molinaro .

Several Democrats looking to unseat Republicans in Biden-won districts raised more than $1 million each in the second-quarter — a sign of momentum in the home stretch of the election. They are Kirsten Engel in Arizona; Rudy Salas, George Whitesides and Derek Tran in California; Tony Vargas in Nebraska; Sue Altman in New Jersey; former Rep. Mondaire Jones, Josh Riley and Laura Gillen in New York; and Janelle Bynum in Oregon. Pennsylvania Republican Rob Bresnahan was the only Republican challenger in a Trump-won seat held by a Democrat to rake in more than $1 million.

Meanwhile, other challengers have some catching up to do. In New York’s 22nd District, Democrat Joe Mannion (who spent money in a contested primary last month) had just over $300,000 heading into the third quarter, compared to Republican Rep. Brandon Williams ’ $1.4 million. Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans in Virginia’s 2nd District had a significant cash reserve, $2.5 million, compared to Democrat Missy Cotter Smasal (who also had a contested primary) with under $600,000.