Biden campaign touts $42M raised in January

President Joe Biden’s political operation said it raised $42 million in January, continuing to amass cash as he gears up for a likely rematch with former President Donald Trump.

The total, which includes funds from Biden’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee and two joint fundraising committees, is a large haul for the incumbent president, although it still trails what Trump and the Republican National Committee had built up at this point in 2020.

The Biden campaign released the fundraising total ahead of Tuesday’s midnight deadline with the Federal Election Commission, when presidential campaigns, party committees and certain other groups have to report their latest fundraising figures. Details of how much money was in Biden’s campaign and the DNC were not yet available Tuesday morning.

The president’s political operation continues to stockpile cash reserves, saying it had $130 million cash on hand across all entities as of the end of January, up from $117 million at the end of December. The Biden campaign got off to a frugal start but has staffed up and spent more on television and digital advertising over the past few months.

When Trump was running as an incumbent four years ago, his operation raised just over $60 million and reported $200 million cash on hand across his assorted groups at this point in the election cycle.

Trump’s 2024 campaign has not yet released its January fundraising totals. And those numbers for Trump will not be comparable to what he brought in as an incumbent. Though the former president is the strong front-runner for the Republican nomination, his campaign has not yet merged its fundraising operation with the RNC as he still faces former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in the GOP primary.

In a prepared statement, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, characterized the Biden campaign’s January haul as “an indisputable show of strength to start the election year.”