Delaware News Hub
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Former President Donald Trump’s political operation brought in $9.5 million in the roughly six weeks after he announced his latest White House bid, according to a source familiar with the fundraising numbers.
The haul is smaller than the nearly $11.8 million raised by Trump entities in the six weeks before the Republican’s November 15 campaign announcement, underscoring the challenges Trump faces as he attempts a political comeback.
In an effort to boost donations, Trump’s team has hired marketing agency Campaign Inbox to bolster its digital fundraising operation, the source confirmed to Delaware News Hub.
Trump’s team said the former president would have the funds to compete in 2024.
Steven Cheung, campaign spokesperson, said Tuesday that all in all the political operation raised $21.3 million during the fourth quarter of last year. He stated that this proves the ex-president is still in office. “an unstoppable force that continues to dominate politics.”
Cheung predicted that Trump would be executed “an aggressive and fully-funded campaign.”
NBC first reported Trump’s year-end campaign figures.
New reports filed Tuesday night with the Federal Election Commission show that Trump’s main campaign committee started the year with a little more than $3 million in available cash.
However, his political operation boasts many arms and a lot of cash.
Five Trump-aligned Committees reported total cash stocks of more than $81 millions.
Two-thirds of that sum – or more than $54 million – sits in the coffers of MAGA Inc., a super PAC established last year and run by former Trump campaign aide Taylor Budowich that must operate independently of the campaign. However, it can spend heavily to support the former president and attack his rivals.
Florida Governor. A possible 2024 candidate, who was subject to early Trump attacks. Ron DeSantis has also built up a significant war chest.
DeSantis’ political operation – split between two Florida-based committees – had more than $75 million remaining in its coffers after the 2022 midterm elections, according to the most recent filings with the state. Florida Republican DeSantis broke fundraising records to win a second term. He raised more than $163million for Friends of Ron DeSantis’ state political committee and another $50 million via his campaign.
DeSantis has yet to announce a White House bid, but Delaware News Hub has previously reported that DeSantis’ political operation was exploring how to shift money from a state political committee into a federal committee that could potentially support a presidential campaign.
In Trump’s first major campaign swing – weekend visits to the early voting states of New Hampshire and South Carolina – he took aim at DeSantis, describing him as “disloyal” for weighing a presidential run and criticizing the governor’s pandemic response.
DeSantis responded to the criticism by pointing out the margin in which he won his reelection win last year. The largest margin of victory in state history was 1.5 million votes.
Trump is the 2024 Presidential Candidate.