Donald Trump claims big cash advantage over Joe Biden in second quarter

Donald Trump’s re-election campaign raised more money in the second quarter of 2024 than President Joe Biden’s, the Republican candidate said on Tuesday, as the rivals intensify their fundraising efforts with just four months to go before November’s vote.

Trump claimed on his social media platform Truth Social that he had raised $331mn in the second quarter of 2024, compared with the $264mn reported by Biden’s campaign earlier in the day.

Biden’s campaign had boasted of “strong enthusiasm” for the president despite a disastrous debate performance last week and polls showing Trump leading in the pivotal swing states.

The Biden campaign announced on Tuesday that it raised $127mn in June, its best fundraising month, and hailed a “growing grassroots operation”. Trump’s campaign said it raised $141mn in May. Federal disclosures for the second quarter are due in two weeks.

Top Trump advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement that the former president now had a cash advantage over Biden after being behind during the Republican primary.

“This fundraising momentum is likely to grow even more as we head into a world-class convention and see the Democrats continue their circular firing squad in the aftermath of Biden’s debate collapse,” they wrote.

Biden, 81, has sought to assuage backers after the debate last week revived questions about his age and mental fitness. His most vociferous supporters have argued that the president was much more energetic afterwards, visiting a Waffle House in Atlanta on Thursday night, rallying a crowd in North Carolina the following afternoon and wooing donors in New York on Friday night.

The campaign said it raised $33mn after Biden’s halting debate performance.

Transcarent chief executive Glen Tullman, one of Biden’s top donors, hailed the president’s “record of accomplishment”, including hundreds of billions of dollars of investment in infrastructure and semiconductor manufacturing as well as foreign aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, while overseeing an economy with low unemployment and stock market highs.

“For me, it’s about the record,” said Tullman, adding that Biden had earned another four-year term.

Bob Clark, founder of Clayco and a top Biden donor, also told the Financial Times that he was sticking with the president.

“I’m not personally going to give up on this president or his team,” said Clark. “The contrast is so stark between dishonesty and honesty in this campaign.”

But other Democratic officials and donors have questioned whether Biden should step aside for the next generation.

Trump narrowly leads Biden in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona and is tied with him in Wisconsin and Michigan, according to a RealClearPolitics analysis of polls.

“It’s probably going to be a goddamn disaster for the Democrats and the country and eastern Europe and the world if Biden doesn’t get out of the race,” a Democratic megadonor told the FT. “I think he’s going to get out . . . if Biden stays in the race, he’s selfish and there’s no other way to look at it.”

Biden and Trump are seeking contributions from small-dollar donors and billionaires for what is expected to be the most expensive US presidential campaign.

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, gave $19mn to a pro-Biden super-political action committee on May 30, the day Trump was convicted of falsifying business records in the New York hush money trial.

The next day, Tim Mellon, the reclusive scion of the billionaire American banking dynasty, donated $50mn to a fundraising group supporting Trump.

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