Bush and allies hit their mark, raise $114M for 2016 bid
Super PAC to run most presidential campaign duties
WASHINGTON — Fulfilling ambitions to raise a historic amount of money in pursuit of the White House, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush and his allies took full advantage of the nation’s evolving campaign finance laws to collect more than $114 million in the first six months of the year.
No candidate for president has benefited from so much money so early in a campaign.
While the total is sure to widely eclipse the fundraising hauls of Bush’s 16 major competitors for the GOP nomination, the ambitious $100 million goal — and Bush’s success at reaching it on schedule — has yet to scare any challenger from the race.
The total announced Thursday includes $103 million raised by Right to Rise, a super PAC that will support Bush in the crowded GOP contest. The rest was contributed directly to Bush’s formal campaign.
“More than the symbolism of surpassing $100 million, the totals demonstrate Bush’s success charting new territory,” said Bush donor Mark Jacobs, a former Texas energy executive who now lives in Iowa.
“It’s that Right to Rise has raised more and been more successful than any political organization ever.”
The former governor of Florida is taking a unique approach to a presidential bid by delegating many operations to Right to Rise, which as a super PAC is free of the limits placed on how much money a traditional campaign can raise from individual donors.
It’s a strategy untested in modern politics.
Based in Los Angeles, Right to Rise will handle a huge part of the costly work of running for president, including buying TV, online and radio commercials, conducting polling and even doing voter outreach. By law, it can’t take direction from Bush’s Miami-based campaign, and the two operations have limits on how they can communicate.
Bush’s official campaign and its markedly smaller bank account will pay for his travel and employee salaries, and give him a pot of money from which to craft messages exactly as he sees fit.
Bush isn’t alone in counting on significant support from a super PAC. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has raised $14.2 million for his campaign, while supporters have given his affiliated super PACs an additional $38 million.
The campaign of former technology executive Carly Fiorina has raised $1.4 million, but much of her dayto-day political messaging is coming through a super PAC that has pulled in more than twice as much.
Thursday’s announcement proved Bush’s strategy will set fundraising records.
Right to Rise’s haul of $103 million in six months exceeds the $79 million Priorities USA Action raised during the two-year 2012 election cycle to support the re-election of President Barack Obama, and is twothirds of the $154 million raised by the super PAC backing Republican Mitt Romney in those years.