Biden in Hot Pursuit
Trump Camp: "Sufficient Cash Secured to Narrow Financial Gap with Biden"
Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in the United States, is receiving a flood of donations from his enthusiastic supporters following a guilty verdict in the criminal trial over allegations of 'hush money for sexual misconduct.'
According to the US daily The New York Times (NYT) on the 31st of last month (local time), the Trump campaign announced that $52.8 million (approximately 73 billion KRW) was raised within 24 hours after the guilty verdict was delivered on the evening of the 30th.
The campaign explained that this amount broke the Republican Party's previous 24-hour online fundraising record and raised enough cash to help narrow the financial gap with his presidential rival, Democratic candidate President Joe Biden.
In particular, considering that the Trump campaign raised $58 million (approximately 80 billion KRW) online over six months in the second half of last year, this means a similar scale of donations poured in within just one day.
Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, co-chairmen of the Trump campaign, said in a joint statement, "This momentum is just the beginning."
Additionally, the Trump campaign stated that about 30% of donors on that day made their first contributions through the election fundraising site 'WinRed.com,' and that former President Trump gained a valuable opportunity to secure new donors.
In the US presidential race, fundraising amounts had been led by President Biden. Looking at the fundraising scale in May this year, the Biden campaign raised $84 million (approximately 111.6 billion KRW), while the Trump campaign raised less at $49 million (approximately 67.8 billion KRW).
President Biden also revealed that $100 million (approximately 138.5 billion KRW) is held in an account shared with the Democratic Party, but with the fundraising on this single day, the Trump campaign has caught up with the Biden campaign's election funds. The Trump campaign did not disclose the total amount of election funds held in the Republican account.
In April this year, the Trump campaign surpassed the Biden campaign for the first time by raising $76.2 million (approximately 103.5 billion KRW) combined with the Republican National Committee. The Biden campaign, together with the Democratic National Committee, raised $51 million (approximately 70.6 billion KRW).
Former President Trump's guilty verdict is rallying not only the Republican base but also Democratic supporters, though to a lesser extent. Immediately after the guilty verdict on the evening of the 30th, $1.3 million (approximately 180 million KRW) was raised within an hour through the Democratic fundraising site ActBlue.
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