Joe Biden late Monday reported that March ranked as his best month for fundraising so far, but the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s disclosure also showed that contributions sharply slowed in the month’s second half.
The former vice president disclosed raising $46.7 million in March to bring his total haul in this election cycle to $135 million, but his campaign previously had announced that he raised $33 million in the month’s first half.
So fundraising in the latter half of March clearly lagged behind, with less than $14 million coming in during that period. Social-distancing measures took hold nationwide due to the coronavirus pandemic and spurred a shift to campaigning and fundraising online and by phone, rather than through in-person events. The Biden campaign reported $26.4 million in cash on hand as of March 31.
“I know that April may not match March in fundraising, and that’s OK by me. The world has changed a great deal,” Biden said in a message to supporters on Monday night.
“But if you can give this month, I hope you will. Because we will still be campaigning as hard as ever to take the strongest fight possible to Donald Trump. He has a lot more money than us, and we are facing an uphill battle trying to catch up now.”
President Donald Trump’s principal campaign committee disclosed Monday that it got $13.6 million in March to bring its total haul to $257 million. But Trump hasn’t faced an intense primary and instead has been able to raise money with the Republican National Committee.
Trump and RNC committees said a week ago that they together raised more than $63 million in March, bringing their cycle-to-date total to over $677 million. Biden increasingly will be working with the Democratic National Committee and also will benefit from super PACs’ efforts.
See:These are the basics of campaign finance in 2020 — in two handy charts
Biden became the last man standing in the Democratic White House race on April 8, when Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont dropped out of the contest. The Sanders campaign reported raising $33 million in March to bring its total haul to $201 million, with $16.2 million in cash remaining.
The latest round of disclosures also revealed that billionaire former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg spent a total of $1.05 billion of his own money on his failed bid for the Democratic nomination. Bloomberg has said he “will work” to make Biden the next president.
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