| | | | |  | | By Madison Fernandez | | | No Republican candidate has managed to overcome former President Donald Trump’s dominance in the GOP primary — not in the polls, not in endorsements, and definitely not in fundraising. Trump’s campaign raked in $24.5 million during the third fundraising quarter. Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley came the closest, posting $8.2 million — just one-third of Trump’s haul. (And for context, Haley was outraised by newly independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who brought in $8.7 million.) Still, Trump couldn’t beat out President Joe Biden, who raised $24.8 million. Here’s how the presidential candidates fared in the latest round of fundraising, according to their FEC reports, which cover July 1 through Sept. 30. (Note: These figures only include the candidates’ principal campaign committees and not affiliated joint fundraising committees, which further inflate Biden and Trump’s numbers.)
|  | — Big spenders: Plenty of presidential campaigns are blowing through more cash than they’re raising. Of the Republican contenders, businessperson Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and radio host Larry Elder all dropped more than they brought in — although some worse than others. Scott spent over $7 million more than what he raised last quarter, and Ramaswamy spent over $4 million more than what he raised. Other campaigns were cutting it close. Both former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron Desantis raised just slightly more than they spent. Biden was the top spender last quarter, doling out $12.7 million. But that didn’t come near what he brought in. — Sitting on stacks: Unsurprisingly, Trump is in the best position for Republicans heading into the end of the year. He has the largest campaign coffers, with $37.5 million on hand. Scott is the Republican with the second-largest war chest — $13.3 million. Still, that’s less than half of what Trump is sitting on. On the other end of the spectrum, a handful of candidates are left with scarce resources, calling into question how much longer they’ll last. Hutchinson, for example, had $325,000 on hand. Pence is also in the danger zone, with just $1.2 million in the bank. It’s the second quarter in the row the former vice president has posted a dismal fundraising report.
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| — Small-dollar donors: Republicans have long struggled to court small-dollar donors. But some campaigns saw more support from those donors. Hutchinson, for instance, had over 60 percent of his haul come from small-dollar donations. Around 47 percent of Pence’s fundraising came from small-dollar donors, as did 44 percent of Ramaswamy’s. On the lower end was Trump, who had around 23 percent of his funds come from small-dollar donors (but remember, he typically has strong grassroots support through his other committees). Small-dollar donors made up 25 percent of Christie’s fundraising; 27 percent of Haley’s; and 28 percent of DeSantis’. — Pitching in: A handful of candidates tried to give their campaigns a boost. Ramaswamy donated more than $1 million to his campaign. In the past, he loaned himself more than $15 million, although he did not make a loan in Q3. Burgum loaned his campaign over $2 million, adding to the more than $10 million he loaned previously. Other longshot candidates are relying on their own funds, too. Pastor and businessperson Ryan Binkley is largely self-funding his campaign, loaning himself $4.8 million and donating over $100,000. (His overall fundraising haul was $5 million, he had just over $11,000 in the bank.) Businessperson Perry Johnson is in a similar situation, raising $5.8 million — thanks to a $4.1 million loan and a $1.6 million personal contribution. The committee has $1.1 million in the bank. Meanwhile, Pence, who, unlike the others, is not a wealthy self-funder, donated $150,000 to his campaign — another warning sign for his campaign. Read some more takeaways from our campaign finance experts, Jessica Piper and Steve Shepard. Happy Monday. What stuck out to you in the Q3 reports? Let me know at mfernandez@politico.com and @madfernandez616. Days until the 2023 election: 22 Days until the Republican National Convention: 273 Days until the Democratic National Convention: 308 Days until the 2024 election: 386
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| | Q3 TABS — Here are some other highlights from the third quarter campaign finance reports from over the weekend: … AZ-Sen: Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who has remained mum on her reelection plans, reported a $826,000 haul and ended the quarter with $10.8 million in the bank. She spent $784,000, leaving her at around the same amount she had on hand as the end of Q2. Rep. Ruben Gallego, Sinema’s likely Democratic opponent should she run for reelection, brought in $3.1 million and ended the quarter with around $5 million on hand. Republican Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb brought in $475,000 and had around $307,000 at the end of the quarter. He faces a steep challenge against Kari Lake in the primary — but we won’t see her finances until Q4 filings because she only entered the race this month. … WV-Sen: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), another will-they-won’t-they senator, raised $715,000. He had $11.3 million in the bank. Republican West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice raised $613,000 for his Senate bid and had $1.2 million on hand. … TX-Sen: Democratic Rep. Colin Allred outraised Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who he’s looking to unseat. Allred brought in $4.7 million and had $7.9 million on hand, while Cruz raised $3.1 million and had $5.8 million in the bank. … NJ-Sen: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is sitting on $8.6 million as he faces calls from his colleagues to resign in the wake of being hit with corruption charges. He raised $919,000. (He wasn’t indicted until the end of the quarter.) Rep. Andy Kim, who mounted a primary challenge to Menendez following the senator’s indictment, raised $1.2 million and had $1.9 million in his coffers. … CA-Sen: The race for California Senate is proving to be a high-dollar affair. The three Democratic members of Congress running for the seat brought in more than $10 million combined. Rep. Adam Schiff led the pack, bringing in $6.5 million. He had $32.1 million on hand. Rep. Katie Porter raised $3.4 million and had $12 million in the bank. Rep. Barbara Lee raised $1.1 million and had $1.3 million on hand. … NY-03: Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) had a negative amount of contributions last quarter, issuing more money in refunds than he took in from donors. “Santos’ campaign refunded more than $35,000 to donors between July and September while taking in only $1,704 in new donations,” Jessica writes. “His campaign also spent more than $42,000 over the period, $20,000 of which was classified as legal expenses. That left him with less than $23,000 in his campaign account.”
| | LOUISIANA LOOK — Republican Jeff Landry will be the next governor of Louisiana after winning the all-party primary over the weekend — flipping the seat from Democrats for the first time since 2015. Republicans coalesced around Landry during the leadup to the primary, but he pulled off a surprise outright win on Saturday when he earned more than 50 percent of the vote, avoiding a runoff. Shawn Wilson, the lone prominent Democrat in the race earned around a quarter of the vote, and other notable Republican and independent candidates finished in the single digits. 2024 WATCH — Ron Harris, a DNC executive committee member and DNC Midwestern Caucus chair, is running for MN-03, currently held by Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips. State Sen. Kelly Morrison, state Rep. Zack Stephenson and Secretary of State Steve Simon are other Democrats considering a run, MPR News’ Mark Zdechlike reports. Simon and Stephenson said that they would only consider runs if Phillips, who is mulling a presidential bid, doesn’t run for reelection. … Alabama Democrats are mulling bids for the newly redrawn 2nd District, including Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed and state House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, per Al.com’s Mike Cason. The seat was previously a Republican stronghold, but the new district gives greater electoral power to Black voters, creating an opening for a Democrat to flip the seat. … Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin is running for IL-07 against Democratic Rep. Danny Davis. Davis is in his 14th term and said he’s running for reelection. Conyears-Ervin filed an exploratory committee earlier this year. … Democratic New Jersey Assembly Deputy Speaker Herb Conaway is considering running for NJ-03, which Kim is vacating to run for Senate, the New Jersey Globe’s David Wildstein reports. Conaway said he wouldn’t announce a bid until after next month’s state legislative elections. … Democratic Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger is considering a run for statewide office — potentially governor, VTDigger’s Patrick Crowley and Sarah Mearhoff report. Republican Gov. Phil Scott doesn’t have a term limit, and is up for reelection next year. Scott has not yet announced if he’s running for a fifth term.
| | DO WE MATTER? — After a sleepy presidential campaign season so far, Nevada is about to see some more activity. Trump, DeSantis, Haley, Pence, Scott, Christie, Burgum and Ramaswamy will speak at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit there later this month, per Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser. DONOR DASH — The non-Trump GOP presidential campaigns continued to make their cases to donors at a Dallas conference hosted by real estate developer Harlan Crow last week. Top officials for DeSantis and Haley went after each other, saying that the opposing candidate doesn’t have what it takes to beat Trump, POLITICO’s Alex Isenstadt reports. Staffers for DeSantis and Haley were initially the only ones invited to the donor gathering, “an indication that donors are increasingly zeroing in on those two contenders.” But Scott’s advisers were brought in too, and they argued that the senator “is tougher than his public perception and, unlike his rivals, had never sucked up to the former president,” Alex writes.
| | PRESIDENTIAL — MAGA Inc., the super PAC boosting Trump’s campaign, is touting Trump’s foreign policy achievements and is going after Biden for the Americans who were killed or taken as hostages in Israel.
| | — Amaryllis Kennedy is campaign manager for Kennedy’s independent presidential campaign. Amaryllis Kennedy is the presidential candidate’s daughter-in-law and a former CIA agent, and previously ran digital strategy on the campaign. She replaces Dennis Kucinich, who is no longer with the campaign. — Biden’s campaign “will launch a pilot test of its 2024 organizing strategy in Wisconsin and Arizona next month, hiring about two dozen staffers and opening a Milwaukee office with a new focus on digital and in-person outreach that aims to directly leverage the personal relationships of volunteers,” The Washington Post’s Michael Scherer reports. “The initial pilot program will constitute four efforts, targeting Latinos, African Americans, women and young people, initially focusing on the college communities in Wisconsin, the Black neighborhoods of Milwaukee and the vote-rich Phoenix metropolitan area.” — Mak Kehoe is New Hampshire state director for Haley and Jeff LaCourse is state director for Christie, per our Lisa Kashinsky and Sally Goldenberg. The hires come as both candidates look to expand their footprint in the Granite State in the wake of DeSantis’ slide. — Fireside Campaigns, a progressive digital firm, “has laid off all its employees after running into serious financial distress,” POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman reports. “About 20 employees were told earlier this month that the firm was in a financially untenable situation and that Oct. 31 was the last day of their employment, two of the people said. One of the people said that the firm is undergoing a ‘radical restructuring’ and is unlikely to exist in its current form going forward.” CODA: HEADLINE OF THE DAY — “Boebert spent campaign cash at Beetlejuice boyfriend’s bar” — POLITICO
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