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Joe Biden has nearly $100 million more in his campaign haul than Donald Trump, the president’s campaign said, giving him a big economic advantage over his rival seven months before the election.
Biden and the Democratic National Committee said Saturday they now have more than $192 million on hand, up from the $93 million Trump and the Republican National Committee previously said they had at the end of March.
Biden’s campaign said the haul amounted to the largest amount of money available to “any Democratic candidate in history,” and included $90 million raised in March alone, compared to the $65 million Trump’s team reported the month last.
“It stands in stark contrast to Trump’s cash-strapped operation that is funneling the limited, billionaire-dependent funds he has to pay off his various legal bills,” said Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.
The presidential campaign’s announcement came just hours before a Trump fundraiser in Florida that the Financial Times said was expected to raise at least $33 million.
Biden and Trump have stepped up their fundraising efforts in recent weeks as they prepare for a presidential race that is expected to be the most expensive ever.
Biden’s campaign last month raised $25 million at a glitzy fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall in New York, attended by former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
Biden’s team has sought to portray Trump’s campaign as increasingly dependent on megadonors willing to spend tens of millions of dollars on the former president’s legal fees as he fights criminal cases related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and a civil fraud case in New York that threatens his business empire.
Trump’s fundraiser Saturday night in Palm Beach, Florida, will be hosted by hedge fund manager John Paulson and will bring together some of the former president’s top donors with those who supported his top rivals, including investors Robert Bigelow and Warren Stephens, who supported Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, respectively.
Also attending the event will be South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy – all of whom ran against Trump in the primaries before endorsing him.
Melania Trump will also headline a fundraiser for Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBT+ group, for her husband’s campaign at their Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on April 20, marking the former first lady’s return to the fundraising circuit.
The host committee includes Elizabeth Ailes, the widow of the late Fox News chief Roger Ailes, Trump’s ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell and Republican megadonor Saul Fox.
Trump supporters point out that he only became the presumptive Republican nominee in March, allowing him to raise more money per capita for himself and the RNC.
Trump’s team and the RNC have stepped up fundraising efforts, his campaign manager Susie Wiles said, adding that the former president had “overwhelming support” from across the political spectrum.
“Republicans may not be the beneficiaries of the self-serving largesse of Hollywood and Silicon Valley elites, but President Trump is proud to be supported by donations from voters who are the backbone of this nation, who will fuel Republicans up and down the runoff,” she added.
Additional reporting by James Politi and Lauren Fedor in Washington