Dem
51
GOP
49
Incredible sums are being raised by both parties. Each one might raise and spend a billion dollars before it is over. Thousands of ads will be bought and television viewers will be sick of them before we hit August, let alone November. Will they change many votes, given how well the candidates are known? Maybe a few, and in close elections, changing a few votes could matter in about half a dozen states.
Yesterday, Donald Trump and the RNC announced that together they raised a mind-boggling $65.6 million in March and had $93.1 million cash on hand on March 31. The March haul beats the $62 million Trump raised in March 2020, but not by much. Biden hasn't announced his March haul yet, but did say that the fundraiser at Radio City Musical Hall last week brought in $25 million. At the end of February, the Biden campaign and DNC together had $155 million cash on hand.
Trump is aware that his small donors are getting donation fatigue what with up to eight e-mails a day begging for money and touting all kinds of (phony) matching programs. Consequently, he is going after whales now, something he didn't do in 2016 or 2020. On Saturday, he is hosting an event at Mar-a-Lago where billionaires John Paulson, Robert Bigelow, Steve Wynn, and Robert Mercer will be urged to open their checkbooks. Trump has said he expects to collect $40 million from it, topping what Biden got last week in New York.
The Trump campaign and RNC have created a joint fundraising account called the Trump 47 committee that can legally accept checks up to $814,600. And donors can also donate to the campaign, the RNC, and various (super) PACs in addition. A PAC Trump cares about a lot is the Save America PAC, which is paying his legal bills.
One high-profile (former?) Republican who is not welcome at Mar-a-Lago and who is not going to donate to Trump is George Conway, the former husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway. He is going to contribute $929,600 to a pro-Biden event in D.C. on April 24. This is his first big donation to Biden.
But again, keep in mind that there are not a lot of swing voters left and watching 20 or 30 ads from each side every evening is probably not going to have much of an effect (except to annoy the hell out of people). However, some of the money may go to the ground game—setting up offices, hiring staff, and getting people registered. That may actually matter more than more ads that drive everyone nuts. (V)