US President Joe Biden leaves the White House in Washington, D.C., for a campaign fundraiser in California on May 9, 2024.
Craig Hudson | Reuters
President Joe Biden’s reelection effort and the Democratic National Committee raised a combined $85 million in May, according to exclusive data provided to CNBC by the Biden campaign.
The amount marked the president’s second-highest fundraising month this term, behind March.
Still, that’s far short of the $141 million that former President Donald Trump’s political campaign and the Republican National Committee claimed to have raised in the same month.
The data showed that May’s fundraising left the Biden campaign and allied groups with $212 million in cash on hand at the end of the month, up from $192 million at the end of April. The campaign said most of the May fundraising came from grassroots donors.
“Our strong and consistent fundraising program saw millions of increases in May, a clear sign that enthusiasm for the President and Vice President continues to grow strongly each month,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
“The funds we continue to raise are important and help our campaign build an operation that is invested in reaching and winning over the voters who decide our elections.”
The Biden campaign has been using the funds to mount a massive ground operation across the country, and announced early Thursday that it had hired its 1,000th staffer.
In contrast, the Trump campaign Staffing increases in key statesIt’s raising concerns among some Republican strategists.
The May figures underscore how the presidential fundraising dynamics have shifted in recent weeks in Trump’s favor, as he has significantly outraised his opponents over the past two months. In April, Trump allies and the Republican National Committee raised $76 million, compared with $51 million for Biden and the Democratic National Committee.
The momentum in May was fueled in large part by small-dollar fundraising surrounding Trump’s trial and his sentencing at the end of the month on 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments. The campaign said it had raised about $53 million, more than a third of its total, within 24 hours of the verdict being handed down.
Biden campaign officials, by contrast, have emphasized that Mr. Biden did not hold any major fundraisers or events during the month. May was the second-highest month for grassroots fundraising for Mr. Biden’s reelection campaign and its best month ever for recurring donations.
One number the Trump campaign has not reported this month is its cash on hand; it is not legally required to do so until July. As of April, the Trump campaign’s overall spending was $88 million compared to Biden’s $146 million, about $60 million less.
It’s not clear whether Trump’s recent fundraising efforts have helped him build up cash.
After a quiet May for Biden, both efforts are expected to post strong numbers in June: Biden’s star-studded Hollywood fundraiser last week brought in more than $30 million, while Trump held a West Coast fundraiser earlier in the month that brought in about $27.5 million.