RFK Jr. Emerges as Major Fundraiser, While Biden, Trump Draw Similar Third Quarter Hauls

In third-quarter fundraising hauls in the presidential race, President Biden has come out slightly ahead of President Trump, followed by Governor DeSantis and then, with a surprisingly large haul, the recently declared independent, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Mr. Biden had the biggest fundraising quarter of any presidential candidate, bringing in nearly $25 million. Mr. Trump raised upward of $24 million, though he fell about $250,000 short of Mr. Biden’s total.Despite Mr. Biden’s slightly stronger fundraising last quarter, his campaign ended with a bit less cash on hand, at $20.1 million compared to Mr. Trump’s $22.5 million.In terms of the GOP primary, Mr. DeSantis took in $11.6 million, Ambassador Nikki Haley collected $8.2 million, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy recorded $7.4 million.Mr. Kennedy, in his independent bid for the White House, raked in some $8.7 million last quarter. This fundraising, though, all came before he announced that he would run as an independent candidate earlier this month.The day after Mr. Kennedy made that declaration, his associated committee, American Values 2024, said it had raised some $11.3 million in the first hours after his switch.“Millions of independent-minded Americans are seeing through the most powerful censorship and propaganda campaign against any candidate in American political history,” a committee co-founder, Tony Lyons, said in a statement.In other races around the country, Congressman Andy Kim, who’s challenging Senator Menendez in New Jersey’s Democratic primary, raised $1.2 million despite announcing his candidacy just a week before the filing period ended on September 30. Mr. Menendez, who was indicted on September 22 on charges of bribery and corruption, raised just less than $1 million for his re-election campaign. In West Virginia, a vulnerable Democratic incumbent, Senator Manchin, raised $715,000 in the third quarter, a notable decrease from the second-quarter haul of $1.3 million. Another vulnerable senator, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, raised a similarly low total, $826,000. Neither Mr. Manchin nor Ms. Sinema, who switched her party affiliation to independent, have announced if they’ll seek re-election, and their small fundraising hauls “[raise] questions about their political futures,” according to Politico. In the closely watched district represented by Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, Colorado’s third, expectations that Ms. Boebert’s Democratic challenger, Adam Frisch, would out-fundraise her came true. Mr. Frisch raised nearly $3.4 million, while Ms. Boebert raised just $854,000. A Republican challenger, attorney Jeff Hurd, also raised a competitive sum for the district’s primary, $412,000. Ms. Boebert was recently in the news again after she and her date were asked to leave a Denver production of “Beetlejuice” for vaping, yelling, and being generally disruptive. Ms. Boebert, who is going through a divorce, later apologized.

RFK Jr. Emerges as Major Fundraiser, While Biden, Trump Draw Similar Third Quarter Hauls

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