Biden outraises Trump again with $141 mn gains

DEMOCRAT Joe Biden outraised President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign for the second straight month and for the second quarter of 2020, figures released on Wednesday showed, highlighting robust enthusiasm for the White House challenger.

Biden, the Democratic National Committee and related fundraisers brought in a staggering $141 million in June, the campaign’s best fundraising month ever and $10 million more than Trump and the Republican National Committee.

The second quarter of 2020 was a record haul for both campaigns, with Biden coming out on top, $282.1 million against Trump’s $266 million for the April-to-June period. “This haul means for the second consecutive month we have outraised Donald Trump’s campaign and demonstrates a surge in grassroots energy to elect Joe Biden,” campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.

Sixty-eight percent of Biden donors in June, the month he reached the number of delegates needed to become the party’s presidential nominee, were first-time contributors, she said. Trump’s campaign reported that it holds a $295 million war chest. Team Biden did not report its cashon-hand figures, but Trump’s campaign said it maintains a “vast” advantage over Biden in cash on hand.

Fundraising typically kicks into high gear in the six months before a presidential election, and the record donations in part reflect robust digital and online fundraising efforts by the campaigns during the coronavirus pandemic.