2nd quarter presidential fundraising highlights: Trump brings in more than DeSantis

(WASHINGTON) — Presidential campaigns will have until Saturday to disclose how much money they raised in the second quarter of 2023, offering an early gauge of their war chests and how much enthusiasm they’ve been able to gin up from the public so far.

Major bids for the White House are expensive, and raking in millions of dollars is key to competing. Beyond long-term considerations, GOP candidates will also have to garner at least 40,000 unique donors by the first primary debate in August to make the stage — meaning this week’s deadline is also a chance to see who can land a spot and who is at risk of missing out.

Candidate-aligned super PACs, which are political action committees that can raise and spend unlimited sums of money in support of specific candidates as long as they aren’t directly coordinated with those campaigns, will have until the end of the month to report their quarterly hauls.

Here are some of the highlights so far from the second-quarter numbers, according to self-reported figures from the campaigns pending their official filings.

The second quarter of 2023 is also when a majority of the 2024 presidential candidates entered the race.

This story will be updated.

Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump’s joint fundraising committee says it took in over $35 million from April through June, roughly doubling the $18.8 million it raised in the first three months of 2023.

Trump’s joint fundraising committee splits its funds between Trump’s official campaign and Save America, his leadership PAC, which pays for, among other things, many of Trump’s legal fees.

The joint fundraising committee sends 90% of money donated to the official campaign and the remaining 10% goes to the leadership PAC.

The muscular fundraising haul underscores both Trump’s status as the early primary front-runner and the continued support he enjoys with Republicans after his two indictments. (He pleaded guilty in both cases.)

Ron DeSantis

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched his presidential campaign toward the end of May, meaning he didn’t have a full quarter to fundraise — though he still announced a hefty haul.

DeSantis’ campaign said it raised $20 million in the first six weeks since it launched, short of Trump’s $35 million but still a large sum given its shorter runway.

Never Back Down, the main pro-DeSantis super PAC, also said it raked in $130 million since March, an enormous sum.

But of the $20 million the campaign itself raised, $8.2 million came in its first day, suggesting that fundraising declined after the launch. And of Never Back Down’s $130 million, nearly two-thirds was transferred from a Florida state committee that was formed to back up DeSantis’ reelection campaign last year.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and a prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist running in the Democratic primary, raised more than $6 million in the second quarter, including raising an average of $1 million per day during the last three days of the quarter, his campaign said.

The campaign said it has approximately $3 million cash on hand.

American Values 2024, the main pro-Kennedy super PAC, also took in $10.25 million, the group said.

Nikki Haley

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign raised $7.3 million in the second quarter, ending June with $9.3 million in the bank, her team said in a statement.

Her campaign also said it hauled in a total of $15.6 million since it launched in February.

Stand for America, the main pro-Haley super PAC, took in $18.7 million since its founding and has $17 million cash on hand, according to her campaign — which also says she has hit the donor threshold to appear on the debate stage.

ABC News’ Abby Cruz, Lalee Ibssa, Nicholas Kerr and Soo Rin Kim contributed to this report.

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