Biden campaign's fundraising lags Trump for the first time in April

By Nandita Bose and Costas Pitas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden's 2024 campaign's fundraising in April lagged rival Donald Trump's for the first time, after the former president ramped up his joint operation with the Republican National Committee and headlined high-dollar fundraisers.

The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $51 million in April, the campaign said, lower than the $90 million they raised in March and less than $76 million Donald Trump and the Republican Party reported taking in for the month.

Democrats still maintained an overall cash advantage over Trump and the Biden campaign continues to have a considerably larger war chest.

Trump clinched the Republican presidential nomination in March, and can now raise money with the RNC, which his daughter-in-law co-chairs.

His April haul was boosted by a record-setting $50.5 million raised during an event with donors early in the month at the Palm Beach, Florida, home of billionaire investor John Paulson. Paulson has been floated by Trump as a potential Treasury secretary.

The event turned out to be a much-needed boost for Trump, who has been routinely outraised by Biden and is in the midst of a financial squeeze due to ballooning lawyer fees and legal payouts from his criminal and civil court cases.

Trump's Save America group submitted a filing to the Federal Election Commission on Monday showing more than $3.3 million in legal expenditures during the month.

The Trump campaign said in a statement its April fundraising was "especially remarkable when you consider he has been confined to a courtroom for nearly 9 hours a day over the past four weeks fighting against Biden's Trial."

Trump's campaign said in March that it would be unable to match Biden's fundraising totals this year. Trump won the 2016 presidential election despite being outraised by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Biden and Trump are tied in national polls with just over five months to go before the Nov. 5 election, while Trump has the edge in the battleground states that will decide the election, recent polls show. On economic issues like inflation, Trump scores higher with voters overall than Biden.

WAR CHESTS

Biden's campaign reported to the Federal Election Commission that it had some $84 million in the bank at the end of April. The Trump campaign reported having $49 million.

A large war chest has allowed Biden's campaign to undertake major advertising campaigns in key battleground states, said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Manager. She said that including the Democratic National Committee and other groups, Biden's campaign had $192 million at the end of April.

The Biden campaign said on Monday night that April was its strongest month for recurring donors to date, with such donors contributing more than $5.5 million during the month alone. It said 225,000-plus donors had committed to giving every month, which it said was more than 1.5 times the amount at this point in the 2020 cycle.

The campaign raised more in March after the State of the Union address, a fundraising blitz through eight battleground states and an event with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at New York's Radio City Music Hall, where it raised $26 million.

In June, the Biden campaign is planning another major fundraiser featuring Hollywood stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts in Los Angeles.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Costas Pitas; Additional reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Leslie Adler, Michael Perry and Alex Richardson)