The biggest news out of the first major fundraising deadline of the 2024 GOP presidential primaries isn’t who managed to raise money — it’s who didn’t.
Mike Pence, a former vice president, raised just $1.2 million for his campaign, a vanishingly small total for a presidential candidate and less than even some comparatively no-name candidates for Senate and U.S. House. Just under $350,000 of the total came in donations of less than $200, a sum indicating he may not attract enough donors to reach the debate stage in August.
Pence has never been a favorite for the nomination: His estrangement from former President Donald Trump and relative lack of charisma have kept him off the front-runner lists. Still, failing to make a debate stage likely to be graced by a biotech entrepreneur who has never held office and the governor of the fourth-smallest state in the union would qualify as a major shock.
Here are six other takeaways from the latest batch of Federal Election Commission reports:
DeSantis’ Missing Small Donors
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pulled in respectable topline numbers in his first quarter as a candidate, bringing in $20 million compared to former President Donald Trump’s $35 million. DeSantis’ affiliated super PAC, Never Back Down, said it has raised $130 million since its March launch, which should cover much of DeSantis’ costs in terms of television advertising and ground game.
The worrying element for DeSantis is just how few of his donors he can go back to: 70% of his donors have already given the federal maximum donation for the primary, according to NPR. And at least $3 million of his $20 million came from donors who had already given the maximum $3,300 donation for the primary, meaning he can only use that cash if he makes it to the general election. He raised just $2.8 million from small donors, who are typically a renewable resource for campaigns.
It’s easy to see how this leads to cash crunch, and is almost certainly why DeSantis is already laying off some staffers.
Scott Leads The Also-Rans
Of the non-Trump, non-DeSantis candidates, the one whose fundraising truly impressed was Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). Scott ended the quarter with $21 million on hand — that’s roughly $9 million more than DeSantis — after raising $5.8 million, with $1.2 million of that coming from small-dollar donors.
Scott and candidates like him — think former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum — are in a race to theoretically replace DeSantis as the leading “not-Trump” candidate. Scott’s small-dollar fundraising and courting of big donors could elevate him from the pack.
Biden Raises Big Money, But Small Donors Aren’t Yet Enthusiastic
President Joe Biden scored a sizable fundraising haul for the first reporting period of his campaign. The Biden campaign and its joint fundraising entity, the Biden Victory Fund, together raised $72 million in the second quarter of this year, the campaign announced on Friday. Coming on top of the funds with which Biden started his reelection bid in late April, the donations give his campaign and the main fund with which it coordinates $77 million in cash on hand. That figure suggests that Biden is raising more than enough to keep pace with his limited campaign expenses to date. And as his campaign was eager to note, his two closest Republican rivals — Trump and DeSantis — respectively raised $35 million and $20 million over the same period.
But Biden’s first fundraising report of the 2024 election cycle wasn’t without its weak points. As The New York Times first noted on Saturday, the Biden campaign and the Biden Victory Fund Raised just $10.2 million in donations under $200. That’s less than the $21 million in small donations that then-President Barack Obama raised in the third quarter of 2011, which was the analogous point in his reelection bid.
Of course, Obama announced his campaign three weeks earlier in the year than Biden did. And grassroots Democratic donors have generally opened their wallets less for progressive causes and candidates now that Trump is no longer in the White House. Top Democrats are hopeful that as the race becomes a clearer choice between Biden and Trump — or perhaps another Republican capable of inspiring similar contempt — the influx of grassroots money will ramp up accordingly.
Schiff Rakes It In After GOP Censure
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) dominated his rivals in the expensive primary to replace retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein, raising $8.2 million in the past three months, according to federal campaign finance reports. The massive haul follows Schiff’s controversial censure by House Republicans last month over the role he played in leading Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.
The admonition was a huge boon to Schiff’s Senate ambitions. The congressman raised double the combined total brought in by his top Democratic opponents ― Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee ― in the same period. Moreover, Schiff’s fundraising pace has put him ahead in terms of cash on hand of the entire Democratic National Committee and every single 2024 presidential candidate.
Porter, a favorite of progressives, holds a slight lead in the race, according to a recent survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California.
Sinema Raises Like She’s Running, Maybe
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) raised $1.6 million in the second quarter of the year — not a paltry sum, but not one certain to put to bed rumors she may opt to retire instead of running for reelection. She still has an impressive $10 million on hand.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), her announced Democratic opponent, raised $3.1 million and has $3.7 million on hand. The small gap between those two numbers is an indicator of how much Gallego has spent — $2 million last quarter — building up his online fundraising base, with more than half of his haul coming in donations of less than $200. Those investments could pay off as the race heats up.
Both swamped the leading Republican in the race: Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who raised just $600,000 and has $355,000 on hand.
A Split In GOP Fundraising Fortunes
Lamb’s weak fundraising was in line with other GOP Senate candidates: Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) raised just $442,000, Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W. Va.) just $411,000 and Gov. Jim Justice (R-W. Va.) just $935,000.
The one truly impressive Republican haul was Bernie Moreno, a businessman running for the party’s nomination in Ohio, who raised just under $2.3 million.
Senate Democrats mostly posted the impressive totals that have become the norm for the party in the Trump era: Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio raised $5 million, as did Sen. Jon Tester of Montana. Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin banked $3.2 million.
In the one Senate race that is even a remote pickup opportunity for Democrats, Rep. Colin Allred outraised GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, $6.2 million to $3.4 million.
It’s worth noting many of the Senate GOP’s most-touted recruits — businessman Dave McMormick in Pennsylvania, veteran Sam Brown in Nevada, Secretary of State Frank LaRose in Ohio and businessman Tim Sheehy in Montana — have either not officially announced their runs yet, or announced after the June 1 fundraising deadline.
Still, it’s clear House Republicans had a better fundraising quarter than their Senate counterparts. An NBC News analysis found the average House Republican in a race expected to be competitive raised about $700,000, while the average House Democrat in a race expected to be competitive raised $444,000.