Trump’s Fundraising Shows Reliance on Oil Sector, Wealthy Donors

Bill Allison
·6 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump relied on a small cadre of donors to contribute a hefty portion of his March fundraising haul, showing the early success of his pivot to wealthy benefactors to finance his presidential bid.

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The $23.6 million from deep-pocketed donors accounted for a substantial part of the $65.6 million he and the Republican Party raised that month, the latest disclosures to the US Federal Election Commission show. While overall figures were known earlier, the filings released Monday were the first to detail donors and other information.

Real estate and aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren and Linda McMahon, who was Trump’s pick to lead the Small Business Administration when he was president, were among those who gave more than $800,000 each to support him and the party, the disclosures showed.

Trump, whose criminal trial started Monday for falsifying business records related to hush money payments made in the 2016 election, is also raising money for Save America — the leadership PAC that’s been paying his legal fees. He’s been increasingly relying on the rich and the elite as his rallies fail to whip up enough small-dollar donations to fund his campaign.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has amassed a record war chest for this point in an election year. Outside groups supporting Biden, led by his main super political action committee, the Future Forward PAC, have now pledged $1 billion to support him.

National and state parties, as well as some super PACs and the joint fundraising committees of both candidates, which can raise money in six-figure chunks for their campaigns, filed their quarterly reports to the Federal Election Commission. Here’s how they stack up:

Donald Trump

  • Trump and the RNC raised $65.6 million in March, ending the month with $93.1 million in the bank.

  • His designated super PAC will report fundraising totals to the FEC on Saturday.

Trump’s first big haul of the election cycle came in late March after he secured the GOP nomination and could start accepting checks of up to $824,600 per donor. The money, raised by Trump 47 Committee, is divided among his campaign, Save America, the leadership PAC that pays his legal bills, the RNC and state parties. His campaign got $178,000 in March, while the RNC got $10.4 million.

Billionaire John Paulson, former Renaissance Technologies co-president and co-CEO, Robert Mercer, as well as Harold Hamm of Continental Resources and Scott Bessent of Key Square Capital Management were among the donors writing big checks to the Trump 47 Committee, which the GOP nominee took over in mid-March. There were 73 donors in all, with some giving $1,000 or less.

Trump also had small-dollar donor support. Trump Save America raised $65.8 million in the first quarter, with $33.6 million of that coming from contributors who gave less than $200.

Still to be disclosed are the results of some big-dollar fundraisers. An event in Palm Beach hosted by Paulson on April 6 generated $50.5 million for Trump, according to a statement from the billionaire. Four days later, Home Depot Inc. co-founder Bernie Marcus, former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler and her husband, New York Stock Exchange Chairman Jeffrey Sprecher, hosted an event in Atlanta for Trump’s presidential bid.

Joe Biden

  • Biden and the Democratic Party raised $90 million in March and ended the month with $192 million on hand.

  • Future Forward, Biden’s main allied super PAC, raised $20.4 million and had $41.5 million cash on hand at the start of the second quarter.

Biden’s reelection effort has amassed more than twice as much as Trump and the RNC have — a record amount for a Democratic nominee at this point in the election cycle.

His haul includes $26 million the campaign raised at an event last month in New York City that also featured former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Small-dollar donors helped too. In March, the campaign broke the grassroots fundraising records it set for the fifth consecutive month.

Future Forward has committed to spending $250 million to help Biden’s campaign. Its biggest donors in the second quarter were LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who gave $6 million, and publisher and philanthropist Fred Eychaner, who gave $3 million.

The Biden Victory Fund, which raises money for the president’s campaign and the Democratic Party, got its maximum contributions topping $900,000 from Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskowitz, Skydance Media founder David Ellison and Promontory Financial Group Founder Eugene Ludwig. It raised $121 million in the first quarter, with grassroots donors giving 25% of the total.

Democracy PAC

George Soros’ super PAC raised $60 million in the first quarter, all of it donated in January by a nonprofit founded and funded by the billionaire hedge fund manager. The super PAC distributed $21 million to super PACs, including $4 million donations to both the House Majority PAC and the Senate Majority PAC, which support congressional Democrats. It ended March with $39 million in the bank.

Restoration PAC

Uline Inc. co-founder Richard Uihlein gave $2.4 million to his super PAC, while a political nonprofit he supports, Restoration of America, provided $731,000 of in-kind services including staff time, benefits and insurance. Restoration PAC, which spent $15.8 million attacking Biden in 2020, has yet to spend money to influence an election in 2024. It ended March with $3.6 million cash on hand.

Right for America

Right for America was formed by allies of Trump earlier this year, but is not directly connected with the former president’s political operation, which has been funding some of his legal expenses. The super PAC raised a little more than $13.1 million and ended the first quarter with $13 million cash on hand. Isaac Perlmutter, the former chairman of Marvel Entertainment, gave $5.1 million, while his wife Laura Perlmutter gave an additional $5 million.

Senate Leadership Fund

The super PAC linked to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell raised $27 million and ended the first quarter with $60 million cash on hand. Citadel’s Ken Griffin gave it $7.5 million, while energy industry companies and executives gave millions more. Occidental Petroleum Corp. gave $2 million, Chevron Corp. and Trevor Rees-Jones, the billionaire owner of Chief Oil & Gas LLC, each gave $1 million. The American Petroleum Institute gave $1.5 million, and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz gave $250,000.

Senate Majority PAC

The group with close ties to Democratic leaders in the Senate raised $39.3 million and ended the quarter with $92.4 million cash on hand. Renaissance Technologies founder James Simons gave $3 million, Eychaner and tech billionaire Jeff Skoll gave $2 million and former Alphabet Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt gave $1 million.

American Patriots PAC

The super PAC, which supports House Republicans, raised $6.1 million in the first quarter, with $5 million coming from Griffin and $1 million from hedge fund manager Paul Singer. American Patriots ended March with $7.5 million cash on hand.

(Updates with Right for America and Senate Majority PACs)

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