Trump Raises $80 Million in Major July Fundraising Bounce
Trump says the campaign hauled in nearly $36 million from small donors.
— -- After a bruising week, Donald Trump's bid for the presidency got much-needed relief in the form of some substantial monthly fundraising numbers. The Trump campaign announced on Wednesday a haul of $80 million for the month of July: $64 million in direct donations and $16 million raised at big-ticket events held in conjunction with the Republican National Committee.
The figures were released by the Trump campaign days after the deadline to submit required monthly disclosures to the Federal Election Commission. The FEC will release detailed reports later this month.
Although the numbers were a major improvement for Trump, he was still outpaced by Hillary Clinton, with July the best fundraising month of the 2016 cycle for both campaigns. Clinton's campaign committee, Hillary for America, raised $90 million in coordinated efforts with the Democratic National Committee, according to a statement released earlier this week. The Clinton camp reported $63 million raised directly by her campaign and an additional $26 million generated with the help of the DNC and state Democratic Party organizations across the country. Clinton raised $8.7 million in just 24 hours after her formal acceptance of the party's nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the campaign said.
Earlier this week, Trump boasted of the grass-roots support his campaign has been getting.
"We have raised with the small donor $35.8 million," Trump said Monday at an event in Columbus, Ohio. "Think of that. I believe it's 517,000 donors. Think of that. That's in a month."
The July windfall gives Trump ammunition for what is sure to be an intense final stretch and shrank what had been a considerable funding gap between the two campaigns. Trump finished the month with $37 million in cash on hand, compared with $58 million for Clinton. Before becoming the official GOP nominee in July, Trump had largely self-funded his campaign, to the tune of $56 million, including $2 million last month.