Trump campaign reports having more cash than Biden's campaign

[June 21, 2024]  By Jason Lange

(Reuters) -For the first time, Donald Trump's presidential campaign reported having more cash in its main account than President Joe Biden's re-election campaign had in its account, financial disclosures showed on Thursday, as both sides built their war chests ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

Trump's campaign had about $116 million in the bank at the end of May, more than double what it had a month earlier, while Biden's campaign told the Federal Election Commission it had about $91 million in the bank, just above what it had at the end of April.

The full financial picture for the two camps isn't clear because while both campaigns had a Thursday deadline to report their finances to the federal regulator, several of their associated fundraising committees won't report on recent activity until July.

Biden's campaign and his party had earlier released unofficial figures touting $212 million in cash holdings, but did not detail which committees held that money.

The figures disclosed to the Federal Election Commission appear to represent a dramatic financial turnaround for the Trump campaign, which had lagged behind Biden earlier in the year. The two candidates are neck-and-neck in national public opinion polls, while Trump leads in several battleground states.

The Republican Party, which is raising money together with Trump to support his bid, also reported a jump in its cash holdings, to $54 million from $38 million.

The Democratic Party reported having about $65 million in the bank, up from $62 million in April.

Trump's fundraising has surged in recent months, including during the weeks leading up to his May 30 conviction on charges he falsified business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star.

Both camps are also ramping up fundraising from billionaires who are allowed to give unlimited sums to groups allied to the campaigns known as super PACs.

Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during his campaign event, in Racine, Wisconsin, U.S. June 18, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/ File Photo

A separate filing on Thursday showed conservative billionaire Timothy Mellon, an heir of the Pittsburgh-based Mellon banking family, gave $50 million last month to a pro-Trump super PAC known as MAGA Inc.

MAGA Inc has been ramping up outlays on television ads supporting Trump's bid, with the torrent of spending helping pro-Trump allies outspend Biden's allies in recent weeks.

MAGA Inc disclosed in a filing to the Federal Election Commission that it took in more than $68 million from donors last month, with most of the money coming from Mellon and another $10 million from billionaires Liz and Dick Uihlein, who founded the Uline shipping and packaging company from their basement in 1980.

Mellon, who lives in Wyoming and is rarely photographed, is an amateur pilot who has invested in and led transport-related companies. Forbes estimates that the Mellon family is worth some $14.1 billion.

The billionaire Winklevoss twins, founders of cryptocurrency company Gemini, said they had donated $1 million in bitcoin to support Trump, but did not specify where the donations were sent.

On Biden's side, billionaire Mike Bloomberg gave $19 million to FF Pac, a super PAC backing the president's re-election effort, a separate filing with the Federal Election Commission showed.

(Reporting by Jason Lange in Tequisquiapan, Mexico; editing by Diane Craft and Sonali Paul and Miral Fahmy)

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