In the two weeks since declaring that he would not self-fund his general election campaign (in part because he apparently couldn’t afford to), presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has embraced the idea of outside financing.
In his latest step toward political action committee (PAC) funding, Trump announced a joint fundraising deal with the Republican National Committee (RNC), which was finalized late Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Under the deal, Trump’s campaign and the RNC will raise funds for two PACs, Trump Victory and Trump Make America Great Again Committee.
The money raised for the first PAC will go toward the RNC, the Donald J. Trump for President campaign, and the state committees in 11 states (Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming). The proceeds from the second group will go toward the RNC and the Trump campaign.
Raising money via a committee will allow the RNC and Trump to get cash far more easily than if Trump were to rely only on his campaign. Individual donors are limited to $2,700 per election when they give directly, but via these two fundraising groups they will be able to cut checks as large as $449,400.
“We are pleased to have this partnership in place with the national party,” Donald Trump said in a statement. “By working together with the RNC to raise support for Republicans everywhere, we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, keep Republican majorities in Congress and in the states, and Make America Great Again.”
Trump has some catching up to do with Hillary Clinton. Last August, the presumptive Democratic nominee inked a similar deal with the Democratic National Committee to form a joint fundraising committee, the Hillary Victory Fund. That group accepts individual checks of up to $350,000, the Journal reports, and so far has raised more than $60 million.
Overall, through the end of April, Clinton had raised $213 million for her campaign and another $67 million had flowed into pro-Hillary Super PACs, the Journal reported earlier. For his part, Trump had so far spent some $47 million, of which $36 million were loans from his coffers and the rest from small donors.