Joe Biden Tops the Campaign Fund Table With $72 Million: Here's What Other Candidates Raised
The first quarter donor reveal for the 2023 presidential election is here. The report covers all the contributions from April to June 2023—the period when most of the politicians declared their candidacy for the 2024 elections. President Joe Biden is starting his reelection with tens of millions of dollars, making his contender's funds look less, as per a Bloomberg report. According to the campaign's announcement, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and their joint fundraising committees raised $72 million. While this does look like a lot, it's important to note that Presidents in the past have raised more than this for their second quarter. For example, Barack Obama and Donald Trump raised $86 million and $105 million respectively. However, Biden waited till the end of April to get into the race while Obama had already declared in early April, making Biden's fund a little more.
The Biden Victory fundraised some $40.8 million while the campaign added $8.7 million. Because of the joint fundraising agreement between Biden's campaign and the DNC and other state parties, the President is allowed to accept money in larger sums as compared to his Republican rivals. Some of the major donors include Choice Hotels International Inc. Chairman Stewart Bainum and his wife, Sandra (an actor) who each gave the maximum amount of $929,600, ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and designer Michael Kors.
A look into Donald Trump's funds
Former President Donald Trump raised more than $35 million in the second quarter. The money was raised by the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee. Trump received $3,300 each from Tilman Fertitta who is a casino owner, Carla Sands who served as his ambassador to Denmark, Andrew Puzder, the former CEO of CKE restaurants, Louis Bremer who is another Trump Administration appointee and Phil Ruffin who was the partner of Trump in a Las Vegas hotel, per Yahoo!News.
Other than this, his campaign also reported funds of $17.7 million, which includes the $15.2 million that was transferred from his joint fundraising committee. Trump who is the front-runner from the Republican side got 53% support in the RealClearPolitics national poll.
Funds of Ron DeSantis
Ron DeSantis, the main contender for Trump from the GOP raised more than $20 million during the second quarter. Donors include Kelcy Warren who is the chairman of Energy Transfer, Kenneth Langone who is the founder of Home Depot, Harlan Crow who is a conservative billionaire and Mel Sembler who was the vice chairman of Trump's finance committee.
A look into Nikki Haley's funds
The Republican candidate brought in around $26 million in the second quarter, which includes $7.3 million in direct donations. Haley also got support from consistent GOP donors, including billionaires like Kenneth Langone and Alice Walton who donated $6,600 each.
A look into Mike Pence's funds
The former Vice President has been able to raise only $1.2 million. His donors include influential names such as Kenneth Fisher, Haley Barbour and Alliance Resource Partners LP chief executive officer, Joe Craft. There's no denial in the fact that Pence needs to raise more in order to maintain a strong position in the upcoming elections.
A look into Vivek Ramaswamy's funds
The young candidate has been able to raise close to $7.7 million in the second quarter which includes $5.4 million that is self-funded. Since the launch of his campaign, Ramaswamy has already put in close to $16 million of his own money into the run. He declared on Twitter that he has more than 65,000 unique donors and has raised close to $2.3 million from other donors.
A look into Tim Scott's funds
The South Carolina Senator has successfully raised $6.1 million. His two big donors include Blackstone Inc.’s Steve Schwarzman and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s chief executive officer David Solomon.