Biden rakes in colossal cash advantage over Trump
Published Date: 2/20/2024
Source: axios.com

President Biden's re-election team now has $130 million in the bank, while the Republican National Committee has little cash and Donald Trump's team is spending tens of millions on legal bills.

Why it matters: Despite Democratic angst over the president's poor polling, the Biden campaign announced Tuesday morning that it raised $42 million in January — adding to his vast fundraising advantage over Trump and the RNC.


  • The RNC started the year with over $8 million in cash on hand and Trump's campaign had $33 million on hand. Neither has released their fundraising totals for January.
  • Biden, the DNC, and other affiliated committees continued to rake in contributions while his Republican rivals still attack each other — and Trump's legal challenges show no signs of going away.

State of play: Nikki Haley raised $16.5 million in January, including $11.7 million from grassroots supporters, according to her campaign.

  • Trump's political fundraising apparatus spent more than $50 million on legal costs last year.
  • Trump hasn't wrapped up his party's nomination. But he is already plotting to kick out RNC leadership and install his own people — including top campaign aide Chris LaCivita, who'll also retain his campaign hat.

Reality check: Incumbent presidents often have a financial advantage going into an election year — as Trump and the RNC did against Democrats at this point in 2020 before Biden ultimately made up ground.

What they're saying: "While Team Biden-Harris continues to build on its fundraising machine, Republicans are divided — either spending money fighting Donald Trump, or spending money in support of Donald Trump's extreme and losing agenda," said Julie Chávez Rodríguez, Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager.

By the numbers: In January, some 422,000 different donors made 502,000 contributions to Biden's reelection effort, the campaign said.

  • In total, the campaign has received contributions from 1.1 million donors.
  • Since Biden launched his reelection campaign, approximately 97% of all their donations have been under $200.
  • Along the way, the campaign added more than 1 million emails to its mailing list.