Trump campaign, GOP raise $212 million in first quarter

President Trump’s reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) raised $212 million in the first quarter of 2020, a huge sum that leaves Trump’s team with more than $240 million in cash on hand. 

The latest figures indicate that Trump’s campaign experienced a slight dip in fundraising amid the coronavirus pandemic. After raising $86 million in February, Trump and RNC committees raised about $63 million in March. Still, the fundraising total for the quarter represents a 36 percent increase from the final quarter of 2019. 

The Trump campaign, the RNC and its joint authorizing committee have now raised more than $677 million since 2017, which the campaign says is funding the largest “field program and data operation” in the GOP’s history.

“Americans can see President Trump leading this nation through a serious crisis and they are responding with their continued enthusiastic support for his re-election,” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement. “Joe Biden, Democrats, and the media continue to oppose his every action, but the people know that President Trump is fighting for them so they are fighting for him as well.”  

The latest fundraising announcement did not include figures on the number of donors and the average size of donation. The campaign has said previously that it was on pace to raise more than $1 billion during this election cycle. 

The outbreak of the coronavirus in the U.S. upended the campaign season, as officials warn against nonessential mass gatherings.

Trump’s campaign and the RNC last month shifted to what it branded an “all-virtual” effort. 

Trump Victory, a joint effort between the campaign and the RNC, said last week that it called 17 million people and recruited more than 276,000 new volunteers since the shift on March 13.  

The Trump campaign’s bank account dwarfs the money that former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has on hand.

Biden, however, experienced a surge in fundraising after winning several decisive primary states in March. 

The former vice president raised $46 million in February and $22 million in the week following Super Tuesday.

Amid the pandemic, Biden has appeared on cable news regularly, often using the time to criticize the Trump administration’s handling of the crisis.