CNN
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Former President Donald Trump’s political operation has earned $9.5 million in the six weeks since he announced his latest bid for the White House, according to a source familiar with the fundraising numbers.
The total is smaller than the roughly $11.8 million raised by Trump entities in the six weeks leading up to the Republican campaign’s Nov. 15 announcement, underscoring the challenges Trump faces as he attempts a comeback. political
In an effort to boost donations, Trump’s team has hired marketing agency Campaign Inbox to bolster its digital fundraising operation, the source confirmed to CNN.
Trump’s team said the former president, who is the first major candidate in the 2024 presidential race, would have the funds to run.
Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Tuesday that, in total, the political operation raised a total of $21.3 million in the last quarter of last year. He said this proves that the former president “is an unstoppable force that continues to dominate politics.”
Cheung said Trump would run an “aggressive and fully funded campaign.”
NBC first reported Trump’s year-end campaign numbers.
New reports filed Tuesday night with the Federal Election Commission show that Trump’s main campaign committee began the year with $3 million in cash on hand.
But in his political operation there are many weapons and a mountain of money.
In total, the five Trump-allied committees reported a total stockpile of more than $81 million.
Two-thirds of that money — or more than $54 million — sits in the coffers of MAGA Inc., a super PAC formed last year and run by former Trump campaign aide Taylor Budowich, which is supposed to be independent of the campaign. act However, he can spend a lot to strengthen the former president and beat his opponents.
A potential 2024 candidate who has faced Trump’s initial attacks, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has also built up a significant war chest.
DeSantis’ political operation — split between two Florida-based committees — had more than $75 million in its coffers after the 2022 midterm elections, according to its most recent filings with the state. The Florida Republican broke fundraising records on his way to a second term last year, raising more than $163 million for his state political committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, and another $50 million through his campaign.
DeSantis has yet to file a White House filing, but CNN previously reported that DeSantis’ political operation was investigating how to transfer money from a state political committee to a federal committee that could potentially support a presidential campaign.
In Trump’s first major campaign — weekend visits to the early voting states of New Hampshire and South Carolina — he took aim at DeSantis, calling him “untrustworthy” for weighing on the presidency and criticizing the governor’s pandemic response.
DeSantis responded by revealing the secret to his re-election victory last year. He won by 1.5 million votes, the largest margin in the state’s history.
Other potential 2024 candidates also have more modest financial resources they can tap into pending campaigns, including several former Trump administration officials. Former Vice President Mike Pence’s PAC, the Great America Committee, reported just $80,000 in funding at the end of 2022.
And former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is expected to announce a presidential run on Feb. 15, has about $2 million in her PAC, Stand for America.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who is slated to run for Iowa in February, has amassed an impressive stockpile of more than $21 million, according to his latest FEC report, which he could file for a White House bid.
This story has been updated with additional information.
