Biden Re-Election Campaign Raises ‘Historic Haul’ of $97M in One Quarter, Totaling $117M in Cash

President Joe Biden seems to have done very well for himself in the last quarter, with his re-election campaign bringing in $97 million, a record-high in one quarter. The incumbent President now has a campaign war chest of $117 million as a result of his campaign's announced fundraising figures for the fourth quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, his GOP opponents have lavished money on their Republican primary campaigns. Biden's cash-on-hand is a record amount for a Democratic presidential contender at this point of the election cycle, his campaign confirmed to USA TODAY. 

The amount does indicate a substantial victory for the reelection campaign, putting it ahead of Biden's most recent Democratic counterpart, former President Barack Obama, but below that of Donald Trump's 2020 run, per POLITICO. The Republican National Committee and Trump brought in about $154 million in the final quarter of 2019. In the fourth quarter of 2011, as Obama and the Democratic National Committee competed for re-election, he raised $68 million. The third quarter of 2023 saw $71 million being raised by Biden and related groups. 

Biden's campaign flaunted its $117 million in cash on hand on January 15, as it has done throughout the cycle. “This historic haul − proudly powered by strong and growing grassroots enthusiasm − sends a clear message: the Team Biden-Harris coalition knows the stakes of this election and is ready to win this November,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement. “Our democracy and hard-fought basic rights and freedoms are on the line in 2024, and these numbers prove that the American people know the stakes and are taking action early to help defeat the extreme MAGA Republican agenda again,” she added.

Due in part to its relative frugality, particularly in the early months of last year, the Biden campaign has been able to maintain a sizeable sum of cash in the bank. It has hired more people and increased its spending in recent months, especially on television ads. 

Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, has not yet disclosed his fourth-quarter fundraising totals. Nor has Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida. Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley's campaign reported raising $24 million during the fourth quarter. "While most of the Republicans have not yet announced their fundraising numbers, we fully expect to lap them − several times," said TJ Ducklo, a senior adviser for the Biden campaign.

Since declaring his candidacy for reelection in April 2023, Biden has received $235 million. In October, the campaign said that they had around $97 million in the bank and subsequently continued to fundraise and spend on advertising campaigns. In the most recent quarter, over 520,000 individuals donated to Biden, with 97% of those contributions totaling less than $200, according to the campaign.