WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee raised a combined $105 million in the second quarter of 2019, the campaign announced Tuesday.
The Trump campaign and his committees raised $54 million while the RNC raised $51 million, the campaign said in a news release.
President Trump’s haul — and the $100 million war chest he and the RNC have in remaining cash — cements his early fundraising advantage over the Democratic field, especially as the two dozen Democrats vying to face Mr. Trump in the general election are scrambling for money to compete in the primaries. The announcement comes as Democratic 2020 hopefuls are revealing their second-quarter results.
Pete Buttigieg raised $24.8 million from 294,000 people in the second quarter of 2019, his campaign announced Monday — a massive haul for the South Bend, Indiana mayor who was relatively unknown six months ago. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who led the field of candidates in first-quarter fundraising, raised $18 million, according to the Associated Press.
President Trump, who built his unorthodox 2016 campaign on online, small-dollar donors, never stopped running for office. He filed his paperwork for re-election on the day he took the oath of office in January 2017 and raised more than $30 million in the first quarter of 2019.
In an unprecedented move, Trump’s campaign has merged its operations with the RNC, giving the President’s campaign operatives a leading role in guiding field operations, well ahead of the general election.
In 2011, former President Barack Obama had raked in $47 million for his re-election campaign in the second quarter that year, and the Democratic National Committee had raised $38 million.
