Campaign Finance: Big Picture

Before the first votes were cast in a caucus or primary, candidates engaged in "the money primary."  The campaigns must bring in enough money to hire talent, open offices, sustain their organizations and spread their messages.  There are different ways to achieve this; a campaign can focus on online fundraising and small contributions or it can do a lot of big donor fundraisers.  The DNC incentivized grassroots fundraising by setting threshholds of the number of unique donors as a criteria for participating in the debates.  Early money is particularly important, and campaigns seek to put the best possible spin on their early fundraising numbers.  On a different track, were the two self-funding billionaires and the self-funding millionaire (Bloomberg, Steyer and Delaney).



Who Has Raised the Most
Total Receipts and Total Individual Contributions as of June 30, 2019
(Source: Federal Election Commission)
Trump
$124.4 m
$43.8 m

 		Sanders
$46.5 m
$36.2 m

 		Warren
$35.7 m
$25.2 m

 		Buttigieg
$32.3 m
$32.3 m

 		Delaney
$26.3 m
$2.0 m
Harris
$25.1 m
$23.8 m
 
 Biden
$22.0 m
$22.0 m
 Gillibrand
$14.9 m
$5.3 m
 O'Rourke
$13.6 m
$13.0 m
 Klobuchar
$12.7 m
$5.9 m
Booker
$12.5 m
$9.5 m
 
 Gabbard
$6.1 m
$3.5 m
 De la Fuente
$5.7 m
$1,310
 Islee
$5.3 m
$5.3 m
 Yang
$5.3 m
$5.2 m
Castro
$4.1 m
$4.1 m
 Bennet
$3.5 m
$2.8 m
 Hickenlooper
$3.2 m
$3.2 m
 Williamson
$3.1 m
$3.1 m
 Swalwell
$2.6 m
$877,745
 
Bullock
$2.1 m
$2.1 m
 Moulton
$1.9 m
$1.2 m
 de Blasio
$1.1 m
$1.1 m
 Ryan
$889,399
$864,759
 Weld
$871,852
$691,052
 
Total receipts, which includes transfers and loans, shows how much the campaigns have to work with, while total individual contributions is an indicator of grassroots support.

Who Has Spent the Most
Total Disbursements as of June 30, 2019
(Source: Federal Election Commission)
Trump
$75.2 m

 		Sanders
$24.6 m

 		Delaney
$18.9 m

 		Warren
$15.9 m

 		Harris
$11.8 m
Biden
$11.1 m
 
Buttigieg
$9.7 m

O'Rourke
$8.7 m

 Booker
$7.1 m
 Gillibrand
$6.7 m
 
Klobuchar
$6.0 m
 
 Yang
$4.4 m

 Inslee
$4.1 m

 Gabbard
$3.6 m

 Castro
$3.0 m
Williamson
$2.5 m
 Hickenlooper
$2.3 m

 Swalwell
$2.1 m

De la Fuente
$1.5 m

 Bennet
$1.3 m
 
Moulton
$1.2 m
 Bullock
$580,989

 Weld
$572,627

 Ryan
$554,341
 de Blasio
$359,044
 
The "burn rate," or how fast a campaign is spending money, can provide clues about its ability to stay the course.


Who Has The Most Cash on Hand
as of June 30, 2019
(Source: Federal Election Commission)
Trump
$56.7 m

 		Sanders
$27.4 m

 		Buttigieg
$22.7 m

 		Warren
$19.8 m

 		Harris
$13.3 m
Biden
$10.9 m
 
Gillibrand
$8.2 m

Delaney
$7.4 m

 Klobuchar
$6.7 m
 Booker
$5.4 m
 
O'Rourke
$5.2 m
 
 De la Fuente
$4.3 m

 Gabbard
$2.4 m

 Bennet
$2.2 m

 Bullock
$1.4 m
Inslee
$1.2 m 		Castro
$1.1 m

 Yang
$847,659 		Hickenlooper
$836,276 		de Blasio
$728,520
 
Moulton
$724,378 		Williamson
$547,892


 Swalwell
$528,740

 Ryan
$335,058		 Weld
$299,225

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