In a joint announcement on Wednesday, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) reported a combined fundraising total of $65.6 million in March, entering April with a robust $93.1 million in cash reserves.
This represents a significant financial improvement for the Trump campaign and the RNC compared to the previous month. In February, Trump’s main fundraising committees reported a cash on hand total of approximately $41.9 million, while the RNC had an additional $11.3 million.
The March total surpasses the $63 million that the Trump political operation and the party reported raising in the same period during the last presidential campaign in 2020, a month marked by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and its disruptive effects on normal life.
However, Trump and the RNC still face a substantial financial gap compared to the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee. As of the end of February, Biden and the Democrats reported cash on hand totals exceeding $155 million. Their fundraising totals for March have yet to be announced.
Full details on the fundraising and spending activities of Trump’s network, the RNC, and other federal candidates and committees will be disclosed later this month when FEC reports are due.
“President Donald J. Trump has again created a fundraising juggernaut among Republicans. While he has been the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party for less than a month, the RNC and Trump campaign are one unified operation and focused on victory,” said RNC Chairman Michael Whatley in a statement accompanying the announcement. “We’re raising funds and making strategic investments to get out the vote and protect the ballot. We are going to win BIG in just 31 weeks.”
Despite the impressive fundraising haul in March, Trump’s ongoing legal challenges have put a strain on his resources, contributing to the Biden team’s financial advantage. Save America, the leadership PAC that Trump has used primarily to pay his escalating legal bills, has spent over $72.5 million on legal expenses since the start of 2021, according to federal election records.
Furthermore, a new joint fundraising agreement that Trump signed last month with the RNC and state parties prioritizes donor funds to his campaign committee and the leadership PAC before the national party receives its share. This arrangement increases the likelihood of donor funds being used to cover Trump’s mounting legal expenses.
Trump continues to court big donors at his Mar-a-Lago club and is scheduled to headline his campaign’s first major fundraiser on Saturday in Palm Beach, Florida. The event benefits the Trump 47 Committee, a new joint fundraising operation Trump has established with the RNC and numerous state party committees. The Trump campaign aims to raise $33 million at Saturday’s dinner, hoping to surpass the over $26 million that President Joe Biden raised last week at a star-studded event in New York.
This report has been updated with additional background information. CNN’s Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.