Trump ‘in full sprint’ to catch up with Biden fundraising

Donald Trump is in a “full sprint” to catch up with Joe Biden’s election fundraising after new figures showed the president had collected more than twice as much money as the Republican frontrunner.

The Biden campaign ended March with $192 million cash on hand, raising almost half of it in the last month alone. It claims to have raised more money than any Democratic candidate at this stage of the race.

Mr Trump’s campaign said it raised $65.6 million in March and ended the month with about $93 million cash on hand.

Mr Biden is also outstripping his rival in terms of political advertising slots on TV and elsewhere.

He has outspent Mr Trump by 500 to 1, according to an analysis by the marketing agency AdImpact.

People familiar with Mr Trump’s push to close the fundraising gap said the Republican was now in a “full sprint” to catch up to the US president.

He talked to or met with big-money donors almost every day this week ahead of the planned Palm Beach gala, the Washington Post reports.

The Biden campaign mocked Mr Trump’s “cash-strapped operation” in a statement released on Saturday, adding: “Trump’s cronies are trying to figure out how to stretch the meagre resources they have to afford basic rallies.”

Mr Trump is due to hold a lavish fundraising gathering later on Saturday, with seats costing more than $800,000.

Allies of the former president claim Saturday’s event in Palm Beach, Florida, will break records for a single fundraiser and turn the tide on Mr Biden, who has amassed a massive war chest for the election battle.

Insiders initially said the Palm Beach event, hosted by billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, would bring in $30 million in a single night.

However, Mr Trump reportedly told donors on a call this week that it would amass around $50 million.

If accurate, it would be roughly double what the Democrats raised in a high-profile event featuring Mr Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton last month in New York.

“Momentum brings more momentum,” a source familiar with the party’s fundraising efforts told the newspaper.

“For Trump to come right behind [the New York event] and raise well over 50 per cent more – that sends a message to Republican donors who may be trying to decide how much they’re going to play this year that they’ve turned this thing around rapidly.”

Another source said: “[Mr Trump is focused on this fundraiser. He has a lot of friends in Palm Beach, and he’s saying, are they giving?”

The Biden campaign has been scathing about the Palm Beach fundraiser, characterising the Trump operation as dependent on donations from billionaires in the hours before it went ahead.

In a message to supporters on Saturday, Mr Biden said: “Donald Trump is down in Florida today raising money from a bunch of hedge fund billionaires who want him to cut Social Security and Medicare and give them tax cuts.”

Describing the election battle as “Scranton versus Palm Beach”, the former Delaware senator claimed: “Our campaign is a grassroots movement made up of nurses and teachers.

“Meanwhile, Donald Trump is collecting cheques from a couple of billionaires who are looking for a tax cut.”

Seven months out from an election, Mr Trump’s campaign has been hamstrung by his soaring legal bills, fighting off primary challengers, and disorganised fundraising efforts.

Even if Mr Trump manages to equal the Democrat’s war chest, he will still have massive liabilities as he fights four criminal cases on election interference, hush money payments and mishandling of state secrets. The first trial begins in Manhattan on April 15.

Two Trump fundraising committees, known as PACs, spent $55.6 million on legal bills in 2023.

Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said: “Our digital online fundraising continues to skyrocket, our major donor investments are climbing, and Democrats are running scared of the fundraising prowess of President Trump.”