WASHINGTON ― Donald Trump’s fundraising efforts are no longer hurting, after he raised $82 million for his campaign and the Republican National Committee in July.
It appears that the strength of the GOP presidential nominee’s fundraising comes from small donor contributions. The campaign says that it has raised about $64 million through digital and direct mail operations with support from the RNC. These tend to be donations of under $200, so nearly all of that money is likely headed to Trump campaign coffers. The campaign further stated that the businessman raised $16 million in larger donations for both his campaign, the RNC and a handful of state parties.
“We are extremely proud of our 69 percent growth in small dollar donations which shows the broad based support of over one million donors across America. Our volunteers and contributors are clearly committed to electing Donald J. Trump as President in November,” said Trump campaign finance chairman Steven Mnuchin in a statement.
The real estate mogul personally donated $2 million of his own money in July, according to the campaign. Trump will match small donations up to $2 million, his team said. The press release goes out of its way to mention that Trump’s contributions exceed the amount the campaign spent on companies, properties and vehicles owned by the candidate himself. “His contributions for the month far surpass the FEC required reimbursements to his related entities, i.e., airplane, Trump properties and the like,” it reads. This may be an attempt to assuage donors of concerns that Trump is using their money to line his own pockets.
The Republican presidential nominee had $37 million on hand at the beginning of August in his campaign account and another $37 million available in two joint fundraising committees.
Trump’s total fundraising still trails that of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. She raised $90 million in conjunction with the Democratic National Committee and a number of state parties. Of that total, $63 million went to her campaign and $26 million went to the DNC and the state parties. In this respect, it is possible that the Trump campaign actually out-raised Clinton.
This was the second full month that Trump spent raising money from donors. He raised $51 million in June, after entering the month with only $1.3 million cash on hand.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.
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