Biden is now catching up to Trump cash ‘juggernaut’
About six weeks ago, the Democratic National Committee noticed a strange pattern: Unsolicited $1,200 donations were showing up online, an unusually large amount to arrive unexpectedly.
First 20 donations, then 40, then 80. Tom Perez, the party chairman, asked his team to investigate. It turns out, some people had decided to essentially forward their government stimulus checks to help Joe Biden defeat President Donald Trump.
Those gifts were part of an outpouring of cash that has allowed Biden to sharply cut into the enormous financial advantage that Trump and the Republican National Committee built in the lead-up to 2020, shaving tens of millions of dollars off what had been a $187 million edge entering April.
Since the beginning of March, Biden and the DNC have banked more than $100 million. And in May, for the first time, Biden and the Democrats outraised Trump and the Republicans, $80.8 million to $74 million.
“We actually think that we’ve become a really powerful place where people feel like they can do something about what’s happening right now,” said Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign manager.
Receipts are on pace to surge even higher in June. Biden’s online fundraising so far this month already has surpassed May’s $34.4 million total, according to people familiar with the matter, with a week left to go. Now, some party officials see $100 million as an achievable goal for June.
“May is the floor for June,” declared Perez, who, along with senior campaign officials, declined to comment on the potential to reach $100 million.
On Tuesday, Biden conducted the biggest Democratic grassroots fundraiser of the election cycle so far, joining with former President Barack Obama for the first time in the 2020 campaign. The virtual event drew 175,000 small donors and raised $7.6 million, according to the Biden campaign.
Biden’s brightening financial picture is the result of a rapid confluence of events.
The primary race ended earlier and the Democratic Party coalesced faster behind the former vice president than expected, sparing him the expense of a drawn-out contest across dozens of states.