In the U.S. presidential race, President Joe Biden has consistently been outpacing challenger Donald Trump in campaign fundraising, but that changed recently with the Trump campaign’s record haul.
In April, Trump raised more money than Biden for the first time. Trump pulled in more than $50 million at a donor event in Palm Beach, Florida, in the beginning of the month, Reuters reported.
Generally, campaigns raise money from committees directly affiliated with a political party and individuals. The Federal Election Campaign Act limits how much money political organizations and individuals can contribute to each election.
Candidates must report who has donated, how much money each entity has contributed, and where the funds are being spent. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulates funding by maintaining a database of campaign finances.
Campaign spending, on the other hand, is unlimited.
"There’s no limits on political spending in the United States. So under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, you can’t tell any group, any individual for that matter, how much they could spend in politics. This means there’s no laws that limit political spending," said Ray La Raja, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts, in a briefing with the State Department.
The following breakdown looks at the campaign finances for Biden and Trump during the 2024 election campaign season.
Financial fundraising summaries
Biden’s FEC financial summary for the 2024 election, with data that spans January 1, 2021, until April 30, 2024, includes nearly $195 million in receipts. Donald Trump’s financial summary, which includes data from November 15, 2022, until April 30, 2024, has just more than $124 million in receipts.
Biden has notably outranked Trump in contributions from individuals in the financial summaries. Biden has received $71 million from individuals, while Trump has raised $1 million in individual contributions.
However, Trump has seen larger support in contributions from committees other than the party committee directly affiliated with the political party. While Biden has received just more than $60,000 in contributions from other committees, Trump has received more than $200,000 from other committees, more than tripling what Biden has received.
A further breakdown of the data shows differences between the two candidates’ authorized committees, where each presidential candidate must authorize a specific campaign committee to take contributions and make expenses for the candidate. Biden has authorized the Biden for President committee; Trump has designated Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc. The authorized committee’s fundraising efforts make up most of the financial summaries.
The Biden for President committee, which has been fundraising from January 1, 2023, to April 30, 2024, has raised a total of more than $180 million. Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc., has raised a total of about $120 million from January 1, 2023, to April 30, 2024.
Campaign expenditures
Along with campaign fundraising come campaign expenses. Since January 1, 2023, Biden has outspent Trump. Biden has accumulated almost $100 million in disbursements, while Trump has spent almost $75 million.
The money goes to a variety of causes. The Trump committee’s weightiest expenses include media creation, legal consultation and postage. Some of the recent expenses include ground transportation, such as Uber rides.
The most expensive items in the Biden committee’s financial footprint look similar. The committee’s top 10 expenses go to media production and digital consulting. Most recently, the committee has been allocating contribution refunds.
With the balance of fundraising and spending, each candidate has some money left in the bank for future endeavors. Biden, with $84 million cash in hand, outstrips Trump, who has $49 million.
While Biden has generally outperformed Trump in fundraising thus far, both candidates are hitting the campaign trail this summer, hoping to rake in more money before the fall election.
