February 27, 2024

In less than five months, the Republicans will hold their convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On August 19, the Democrats will convene in Chicago. In mid-September, early voting will begin in five states. The amount of campaign spending that will take place over the next eight months will be staggering, and thanks to the duplicitous machinations and malevolent lawfare directed at Donald Trump by the Democrat establishment, the Republican Party and the Trump campaign are looking at a potentially overwhelming financial disadvantage.

‘); googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1609268089992-0’); }); document.write(”); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.pubads().addEventListener(‘slotRenderEnded’, function(event) { if (event.slot.getSlotElementId() == “div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3028”) { googletag.display(“div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3028”); } }); }); }

It is estimated that spending on the 2024 presidential election will significantly exceed the $5.7 billion spent on campaigning and political advertising in 2020 and nearly triple what was spent in 2016. As of December 31, 2023, $230 million had already been spent, which is more than twice the record set in the same period during the 2016 election cycle.

In the 2020 presidential election, the Biden campaign and Democrat-aligned groups spent $3.3 billion while the Trump campaign and Republican-aligned groups spent $2.4 billion.

Among the individual campaigns, Biden raised over $1 billion, while Trump raised $770 million. In the case of Joe Biden, it was the large individual donors, that accounted for 61% of contributions, while small individual donors accounted for 38%.

‘); googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1609270365559-0’); }); document.write(”); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.pubads().addEventListener(‘slotRenderEnded’, function(event) { if (event.slot.getSlotElementId() == “div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3035”) { googletag.display(“div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3035”); } }); }); }

The Trump campaign fundraising was almost equally underwritten by large individual donors (51%) and small individual donors (49%) contributing $200.00 or less (a stunning and historically unmatched achievement.)

In 2024, the large individual donors, and their super and hybrid PACs, will probably account for at least 45% of all political contributions (43% in 2020). They will play an oversized role in deciding not only which candidate wins in November, but whether or not Joe Biden is the Democrat Party nominee. The small individual donors will account for perhaps 23% of all political donations, as they did in 2020.

Where do the two parties and their presumptive nominees stand in their campaign fundraising as of the end of January 2024?

The Biden campaign has raised $142 million to date and has $56 million on hand. The Trump campaign has raised $89 million and has $30 million on hand. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has raised $137 million with $24 million on hand; whereas the Republican National Committee (RNC) has raised $99 million and has just $9 million on hand.

When the cash on hand of the Biden campaign is combined with the DNC and other direct campaign-affiliated groups, the campaign has in excess of $154 million available. When Trump’s cash on hand is added to the RNC and other direct campaign-affiliated groups, the Trump campaign has $65 million.

While significant, these fundraising numbers pale by comparison to what will be spent in the entirety of the election cycle, assuming Trump and the Republicans can at least match their 2020 fundraising. Historically eighty plus percent of all political contributions occur between January and November of the election year.