The 2020 election is more than two years away, but President Trump is prepared.
Trump has raised a total of more than $106 million for his reelection campaign since January 2017 through his campaign committee and two joint fundraising committees with the Republican National Committee, according to Federal Election Commission filings made public Monday. That $106 million includes $18 million raised between July and September alone.
The three committees ended last month with $46.7 million in cash on hand.
Despite these unusually high figures, Trump was out-raised in the third quarter by Texas Democratic Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke, who reported that he raised $38.1 million. That number represents a quarterly fundraising record for a Senate campaign.
Trump is the first president since at least Ronald Reagan to begin raising money for his campaign committee so early, according to the Campaign Finance Institute. He launched his reelection campaign the same day he was sworn into office at the start of 2017.
Trump’s joint fundraising committees, the Make America Great Again committee and Trump Victory committee, raised $10.8 million and $2.5 million respectively in the third quarter. Trump’s principal reelection campaign committee saw $4.5 million in contributions in the same period.
The Trump campaign said that 97.6% of the funds raised for the reelection campaign committee came from donations of $200 or less. While these small-donor contributions constitute a majority of the money raised, the Trump fundraising drive also received a significant boost from a handful of high-profile figures.
Venture capitalist Peter Thiel donated $250,000 to the Trump Victory committee last quarter. Meanwhile, longtime Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz gave $50,000 and United States Steel Corp. Donated $100,000 to that same joint fundraising committee.
Trump’s campaign committee proceeded to spend $7.7 million last quarter. American Made Media Consultants LLC was the biggest vendor, receiving $1.6 million for online advertising, digital consulting, and video production services. The company was incorporated in April, set up by campaign officials to save money, reports The New York Times.
The campaign also spent $1.6 million in legal fees in the same period—the most it had spent in any quarter. Much of these fees went to Jones Day, which represents the campaign in the ongoing investigations by Special Counsel Mueller and congressional committees that are looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Another $214,000 in donations was distributed to more than 100 congressional candidates running for reelection.
