Joe Biden Scores Big as the Democratic National Committee Raises Over $70 Million in Third Quarter

It appears that the Biden-Harris duo are continuing to win hearts among Democrats.

President Joe Biden, the Democratic National Committee, and their joint fundraising organizations raised upwards of $71 million in the third quarter of this year, the campaign declared on October 15. Though not unprecedented, the sum has enabled Biden to begin a significant television and internet advertising campaign ahead of schedule compared to other presidents' re-election campaigns, POLITICO reported.

The Biden campaign revealed that it had around $91 million in cash on hand, which it proclaimed was a record high for Democratic presidential contenders at this stage of the race and the result of operating in an intentionally lean manner. Biden, the DNC, and their committees also stated that they received contributions from almost 493,000 people this quarter. 

Biden's third-quarter fundraising total is considerably behind that of former President Trump and the Republican National Committee at this juncture in Trump's re-election campaign in 2019. During that time, they raised $125 million, and through Trump's many fundraising committees, they had $156 million in cash on hand, Axios reported.

"We don't take our cues from the 'death star,' " a Biden campaign staffer joked, referring to the term the Trump campaign gave itself back in 2020, but then went on to lose.

Biden's campaign also made clear that it had more cash on hand than any of its Republican opponents in 2024. This is due to a deal between the campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and state Democratic parties that allows individual donors to contribute a maximum of $6,600 to those GOP campaigns between the primary and general election, but up to $929,600 to Biden's joint fundraising committee. The GOP nominee will be able to solicit money through the RNC only after one has been selected.

The amount of money the campaign received from small-dollar donors, a sign of grassroots support, was not disclosed by the campaign. The Biden camp has had trouble attracting small-dollar donations, namely those under $200, per Axios.

But, in the second quarter, there were contributions from all 50 states, according to the campaign, with small-dollar donors accounting for 97% of all contributions under $200, ABC News reported back in July.The most prevalent professions among contributors that quarter were teachers, nurses, and retirees.

Julie Chávez Rodriguez, campaign manager for Biden-Harris, had sent out a text and email to small-dollar donors highlighting Biden's advantage over the GOP field. "While Republicans are burning through resources in a divisive primary focused on who can take the most extreme MAGA positions, we are significantly outraising every single one of them — because our team's strength is our grassroots supporters," Chávez Rodríguez said.

The Biden campaign has, however,  attempted to increase the scale of its low-budget operation by utilizing both Obama and the internet meme known as "Dark Brandon." The president's web videos featuring Dark Brandon mugs "drove close to $2M in revenue since August, and led to an 850% increase in sales month-over-month from July to August," the campaign stated.