President Joe Biden‘s campaign raised just over $97 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 and has what campaign officials say is a historic record of money ready to spend.
“The team is also reporting a historic $117 million in cash on hand, the highest total amassed by any Democratic candidate in history at this point in the cycle,” an email blast from the Biden campaign reads.
Team Biden attributed the fourth-quarter haul to “grassroots support” and said December was the strongest fundraising month since the campaign launched. It even surpassed amounts raised by former President Barack Obama, who was known for his fundraising prowess.
“I remember when [Obama campaign manager Jim Messina] told me to shoot for $100 million in Q4 of 2011,” Biden finance chairman Rufus Gifford posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Even the much-praised Obama fundraising machine couldn’t get even close and we scratched and clawed our way to $68 million as I was refreshing our totals on New Year’s Eve.”
However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator holds that $68 million in December 2011 is roughly equivalent to $92.4 million in December 2023, the most recent month available, meaning Biden has beaten Obama’s late 2011 haul but by a closer margin than Gifford implied. High inflation has been a persistent criticism of Biden throughout his first term.
Former President Donald Trump hasn’t released his fourth-quarter fundraising totals yet, so it’s unclear how they stack up to Biden’s total. The Republican front-runner ended the third quarter with $37.5 million in cash on hand.
The Biden campaign says it is ready and well positioned to tackle the reelection challenge in 2024.
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“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.
“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,” Chavez Rodriguez continued.
