A massive fundraising surge has built up larger reservations for Biden and let him invest over the president in precisely the same time.
For the very first time this election, Joe Biden is sitting on the largest pile of money -- and he is vastly outspending President Donald Trump, also.
Biden is entering the last stretch of the general election with $141 million more at the bank than Trump, a stunning reversal of fortunes from past spring, when Trump held a hefty financial edge as the nearly broke Biden emerged out of the Democratic nominating contest.
Biden and the Democratic National Committee, along with their affiliated joint-fundraising groups, have $466 million at the bank, according to a Biden campaign official, after increasing a record-shattering $365 million final month. Trump along with the Republican National Committee, meanwhile, are currently sitting on $325 million at the bank, Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said.
Just taking a look at the presidential campaign committees themselves, Biden ended August with nearly $181 million available to Trump's $121 million.
Trump's TV ad cutback stunned Republicans last month, but campaign manager Bill Stepien has said that he is trying to"carefully manage" the funding of the massive reelection campaign. Despite slashing television spending, Sunday's Federal Election Commission filings detailing August expenses demonstrate that Trump spent only as much as he did in July, with electronic advertisements shooting up, but an opaque financing arrangement shielding spending from line-item scrutiny.
Trump began the general election versus Biden with a nine-figure head start within the Democrat, following the former vice president battled through a costly primary contest while Trump increased money for years in preparation for 2020. Biden's record-breaking fundraising rate, especially during the past month, has changed everything, while Trump's effort is suddenly watching what it occupies.
POLITICO awakened through the amounts. Here is what stands out from the presidential campaigns' latest reports, for example that which we can tell about where the Trump campaign is spending its own money, despite trimming its own TV advertising.
One company obscures the amount of Trump's money gets spent
Three-quarters of the cash that the Trump campaign spent was directed through American Made Media Consultants LLC, which FEC filings describe as accountable for making and placing the campaign's TV and electronic ads, in addition to text message advertisements and web development and hosting solutions.
If the Trump campaign is trying to cut its funding, the biggest place to cut is inside this LLC. But the lump sum, totaling $46.2 million last month, does not shed much light on how the money was spent because the consultancy may send the money back out to other subcontractors without revealing them.
Indeed, American Made Media Consultants was the topic of a campaign finance complaint for allegedly being a"pass-through" to sellers and obscuring campaign disbursements. The complaint from the Campaign Legal Center reported that by"failing to report payments to the effort's true vendors and workers, the Trump campaign and Trump Make America Great Again Committee have violated" campaign finance law.
Brad Parscale, who functioned as the campaign manager at the time, called the complaint"political theater 100 days out." The Trump campaign also insisted it's in complete compliance with campaign finance legislation, stating AMMC"assembles efficiencies and conserves the campaign money by supplying these in-house solutions that otherwise would be done by outside vendors."
It's uncertain just where the money goes after it hits AMMC's accounts, but we understand some of the destinations. Federal Communications Commission documents show the Trump campaign utilizes a media firm named Harris Sikes to place its TV advertisements, by way of instance, although the company's name does not appear in Trump's FEC report.
Notably, numerous top campaign officials aren't recorded as salaried workers in the Trump campaign's filings in August, such as Stepien, the campaign director, senior adviser Jason Miller and others. But from the outside, it is uncertain what other places might be final destinations for money going to the seller responsible for most of the Trump campaign's budget.
Trump outspent on TV ...
Last month, the Trump campaign considerably reined in its TV advertisements, even going off the air occasionally in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota. Biden ended outspending Trump over 3-to-1 on TV in August, $69.9 million to $18.8 million, according to Advertising Analytics.
The cuts Trump's TV spending reflected an increasing fear of a cash crunch for the effort, as Biden caught up in finance. However, Trump officials have pushed back on the idea that they are facing financial issues, pointing to a focus on digital and on site campaigning, among other things.
... but spending large on the web
Trump had the campaign spending border on two of the largest digital advertising platforms in August.
The Trump effort spent more than $13 million advertisements on Google alone during two weeks in August, including expensive advertisements on YouTube's front page to counter-message the Democratic conference, and it totaled $17 million in the month of August. The Trump campaign spent another $4.4 million on advertisements throughout the president Facebook page in August, according to the digital giants' political ad disclosures.
Biden-aligned fundraising committees composed some of this gap, as groups affiliated with Trump and Biden spent thousands more dollars on the platforms prospecting for internet donors and assaulting the other side.
Facebook and Google are not the only places to buy online political ads, as well as the Biden campaign's FEC report showed $28.7 million in electronic advertising spending, which could also include some advertisements booked to run later on. Trump's FEC report did not include anything coming Biden's internet advertisement number from August.
Events restart, forcing up effort Expenses
The coronavirus stunt drove in-person campaign events to a near halt during the spring and summer, but in August, Trump picked up his busy rally schedule again, emerging in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. That meant the costs associated with these rallies returned, also.
Trump along with the RNC spent a combined $6.8 million directly on events-related expenses, together with much more on occasion security and other associated charges. The expenses included $640,000 into the National Park Service and $185,000 to the U.S. Treasury. A RNC official said those prices were related to the Republican tradition, which was partly held in the White House.
The Biden effort, which has ramped up its journey in September, spent significantly less than the Trump effort on events-related expenses in August, totaling only $120,000. The DNC spent $120,000 on event creation and site rentals, a reflection of the celebration's mostly virtual conference.
Since Biden's money builds, GOP super PACs Receive a fundraising advantage over Democrats
America First Action, the principal pro-Trump outside team, reported raising $22 million in August, exceeding its totals in previous months this season.
That by itself surpassed the August totals for Priorities USA Action, the pro-Biden super PAC, which raked in $8.5 million. Meanwhile, Unite the Country, yet another pro-Biden super PAC, raised $2.8 million and is sitting on $6.6 million.
Preserve America, another pro-Trump group which started spending early this month, will not report its fundraising figures before next month. But they are expected to be significant. The team has spent $55 million this month alone, and it is expected to get financing from GOP megadonors such as Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus.
For the very first time this election, Joe Biden is sitting on the largest pile of money -- and he is vastly outspending President Donald Trump, also.
Biden is entering the last stretch of the general election with $141 million more at the bank than Trump, a stunning reversal of fortunes from past spring, when Trump held a hefty financial edge as the nearly broke Biden emerged out of the Democratic nominating contest.
Biden and the Democratic National Committee, along with their affiliated joint-fundraising groups, have $466 million at the bank, according to a Biden campaign official, after increasing a record-shattering $365 million final month. Trump along with the Republican National Committee, meanwhile, are currently sitting on $325 million at the bank, Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said.
Just taking a look at the presidential campaign committees themselves, Biden ended August with nearly $181 million available to Trump's $121 million.
Trump's TV ad cutback stunned Republicans last month, but campaign manager Bill Stepien has said that he is trying to"carefully manage" the funding of the massive reelection campaign. Despite slashing television spending, Sunday's Federal Election Commission filings detailing August expenses demonstrate that Trump spent only as much as he did in July, with electronic advertisements shooting up, but an opaque financing arrangement shielding spending from line-item scrutiny.
Trump began the general election versus Biden with a nine-figure head start within the Democrat, following the former vice president battled through a costly primary contest while Trump increased money for years in preparation for 2020. Biden's record-breaking fundraising rate, especially during the past month, has changed everything, while Trump's effort is suddenly watching what it occupies.
POLITICO awakened through the amounts. Here is what stands out from the presidential campaigns' latest reports, for example that which we can tell about where the Trump campaign is spending its own money, despite trimming its own TV advertising.
One company obscures the amount of Trump's money gets spent
Three-quarters of the cash that the Trump campaign spent was directed through American Made Media Consultants LLC, which FEC filings describe as accountable for making and placing the campaign's TV and electronic ads, in addition to text message advertisements and web development and hosting solutions.
If the Trump campaign is trying to cut its funding, the biggest place to cut is inside this LLC. But the lump sum, totaling $46.2 million last month, does not shed much light on how the money was spent because the consultancy may send the money back out to other subcontractors without revealing them.
Indeed, American Made Media Consultants was the topic of a campaign finance complaint for allegedly being a"pass-through" to sellers and obscuring campaign disbursements. The complaint from the Campaign Legal Center reported that by"failing to report payments to the effort's true vendors and workers, the Trump campaign and Trump Make America Great Again Committee have violated" campaign finance law.
Brad Parscale, who functioned as the campaign manager at the time, called the complaint"political theater 100 days out." The Trump campaign also insisted it's in complete compliance with campaign finance legislation, stating AMMC"assembles efficiencies and conserves the campaign money by supplying these in-house solutions that otherwise would be done by outside vendors."
It's uncertain just where the money goes after it hits AMMC's accounts, but we understand some of the destinations. Federal Communications Commission documents show the Trump campaign utilizes a media firm named Harris Sikes to place its TV advertisements, by way of instance, although the company's name does not appear in Trump's FEC report.
Notably, numerous top campaign officials aren't recorded as salaried workers in the Trump campaign's filings in August, such as Stepien, the campaign director, senior adviser Jason Miller and others. But from the outside, it is uncertain what other places might be final destinations for money going to the seller responsible for most of the Trump campaign's budget.
Trump outspent on TV ...
Last month, the Trump campaign considerably reined in its TV advertisements, even going off the air occasionally in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota. Biden ended outspending Trump over 3-to-1 on TV in August, $69.9 million to $18.8 million, according to Advertising Analytics.
The cuts Trump's TV spending reflected an increasing fear of a cash crunch for the effort, as Biden caught up in finance. However, Trump officials have pushed back on the idea that they are facing financial issues, pointing to a focus on digital and on site campaigning, among other things.
... but spending large on the web
Trump had the campaign spending border on two of the largest digital advertising platforms in August.
The Trump effort spent more than $13 million advertisements on Google alone during two weeks in August, including expensive advertisements on YouTube's front page to counter-message the Democratic conference, and it totaled $17 million in the month of August. The Trump campaign spent another $4.4 million on advertisements throughout the president Facebook page in August, according to the digital giants' political ad disclosures.
Biden-aligned fundraising committees composed some of this gap, as groups affiliated with Trump and Biden spent thousands more dollars on the platforms prospecting for internet donors and assaulting the other side.
Facebook and Google are not the only places to buy online political ads, as well as the Biden campaign's FEC report showed $28.7 million in electronic advertising spending, which could also include some advertisements booked to run later on. Trump's FEC report did not include anything coming Biden's internet advertisement number from August.
Events restart, forcing up effort Expenses
The coronavirus stunt drove in-person campaign events to a near halt during the spring and summer, but in August, Trump picked up his busy rally schedule again, emerging in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. That meant the costs associated with these rallies returned, also.
Trump along with the RNC spent a combined $6.8 million directly on events-related expenses, together with much more on occasion security and other associated charges. The expenses included $640,000 into the National Park Service and $185,000 to the U.S. Treasury. A RNC official said those prices were related to the Republican tradition, which was partly held in the White House.
The Biden effort, which has ramped up its journey in September, spent significantly less than the Trump effort on events-related expenses in August, totaling only $120,000. The DNC spent $120,000 on event creation and site rentals, a reflection of the celebration's mostly virtual conference.
Since Biden's money builds, GOP super PACs Receive a fundraising advantage over Democrats
America First Action, the principal pro-Trump outside team, reported raising $22 million in August, exceeding its totals in previous months this season.
That by itself surpassed the August totals for Priorities USA Action, the pro-Biden super PAC, which raked in $8.5 million. Meanwhile, Unite the Country, yet another pro-Biden super PAC, raised $2.8 million and is sitting on $6.6 million.
Preserve America, another pro-Trump group which started spending early this month, will not report its fundraising figures before next month. But they are expected to be significant. The team has spent $55 million this month alone, and it is expected to get financing from GOP megadonors such as Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus.