The Republican National Committee raised $14.6 million during the month of May, new disclosures show, a reflection of how Republicans are raising large sums of money months in advance of the 2020 general election.
Earlier this week, the committee announced that President Donald Trump raised $24.8 million in less than 24 hours after officially launching his reelection campaign — a huge amount of money that dwarfed the first-day totals of the Democrats competing in the primary.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who raised the next-highest total after his first day of fundraising, pulled in $6.3 million.The RNC’s $14.6 million haul — which doesn’t include any of Trump’s fundraising for this week — brings its overall fundraising for the year to $76 million. The RNC spent $12.3 million in May and ended the month with $37 million cash on hand.
A number of big-name Republican donors helped the RNC fill its coffers in May, including Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey, who gave the committee $106,500.; Marvel chairman Isaac Perlmutter and his wife, Laura, who gave the committee $213,000; and businessman Phil Ruffin, who gave the committee $14,300.
The RNC paid close to a million dollars to Parscale Strategy, the firm affiliated with Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, in May. It also paid more than a million dollars, an unusually high amount, to four firms for polling and consulting in May: WPAi, TargetPoint Consulting, Public Opinion Strategies and Grassroots Targeting.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine