Clinton holds financial lead in homestretch
Trump’s campaign coffers a fourth of what’s in Democrat’s war chest, latest filings show
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each unloaded a barrage of spending during the first weeks of October, but Clinton retained an enormous financial advantage as the two sprinted to Election Day.
Each presidential candidate spent about $ 50 million between Oct. 1 and 19, reports filed Thursday night with the Federal Election Commission show. But Clinton, the Democratic nominee, headed into the election’s homestretch with $ 62.4 million in stockpiled cash in her campaign account, nearly four times the $ 15.9 million Trump had remaining in the bank as of late last week.
Trump had total receipts of $ 30.5 million this month, a big drop from his September fundraising and well short of Clinton’s $ 52.8 million haul during the first 19 days of October.
Although the Republican nominee often touts his plans to inject $ 100 million of his own money into the contest, the new filings show Trump is far short of that goal. He has invested about $ 56.1million so far. His only donations to the campaign in October: a little more than $ 30,600 for in- kind contributions.
Their biggest expenses: Advertising. Clinton spent about $ 33 million during the first 19 days of October on media buys and digital ads. Trump’s report shows $ 19.3 million in “placed media” with another $ 14.2 million going to his Texas digital firm, Giles- Parscale, for online advertising and digital consulting.