Former President Donald Trump’s campaign leads all 2024 presidential contenders with $22.52 million cash on hand thus far in the election cycle, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Fueled by indictments, Trump’s campaign committee surged passed both Democrat and Republican contenders with cash on hand, money sitting in a campaign bank account ready for deployment. The total excludes PACs because their reports are not due until the end of July. Donations to campaigns are typically the best barometer to measure base enthusiasm.
Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina, on May 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and President Joe Biden round out the top three with Trump with $21.1 million and $20.13 million respectively.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in fourth place with $12.24, well behind the top three. Republican entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy holds $9.03 million, while Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slid just under Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley with $4.52 million, a solid sum considering the Democrat establishment opposes him. In last place was Marianne Williamson with $100,000:
"Nearly half of all of DeSantis’s donations since he launched his campaign in May have come from voting precincts that supported Biden in 2020, the Journal’s analysis found." https://t.co/fLVUXmFBEI pic.twitter.com/oqlW4EuroP
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) July 17, 2023
Trump’s campaign and another fundraising arm raised more than $35 million from April through June, according to the Wall Street Journal. In comparison, DeSantis only raised $20 million, $15 million less than Trump.
Trump also claimed half of all Republican donors out of at least 90,000 individual donations, the Journal reported. Among those who donated to Trump in 2020 but not in the 2024 cycle, DeSantis was the greatest benefactor with $2.23 million. Haley came in second with less than a million.
In this July 31, 2018, file photo, then-President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with then-Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis during a rally in Tampa, Florida. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Even with the few donors changing support from Trump to DeSantis, the governor’s campaign appears to show signs of stalling. Polling numbers are well below Trump’s and support in early primary states remains a struggle. His challenges are multiplied by the number of GOP contenders who entered the field, thus siphoning support away from perhaps Trump’s greatest Republican opponent.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
