A snapshot of third-quarter fundraising by the 2016 presidential candidates. Thursday was the deadline for federal candidates to disclose how they raised and spent campaign contributions during the July-to-September fundraising quarter. Among the candidates who have already released their totals, Cruz collected $12.2 million; Fiorina raised $6.8 million; Rubio collected $6 million, Ohio Gov. John Kasich took in nearly $4.4 million and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul raised $2.5 million.
Jeb Bush rakes in $13.38 million
Republican Jeb Bush raised $13.38 million over the summer months, a dramatic slowdown from the torrid fundraising pace the former Florida governor set when he entered the presidential contest in June. The haul puts Bush, the son and brother of former presidents, in second place so far behind one of the GOP field's rising insurgent candidates, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who quickly scooped up $20.2 millionover the summer as his campaign gained traction with religious conservatives. It's the latest sign that establishment-backed candidates are losing financial ground to political outsiders. Three other Republican contenders — Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio — started October with bigger cash reserves than the $10.27 million Bush's aides said he still had available in the bank. Carson; Carly Fiorina, a former tech executive who's never held elective office; and Democratic contender Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, all saw their fundraising soar over the summer. Despite his political pedigree, Bush has lagged behind upstarts such as blunt-talking billionaire Donald Trump and Carson in early polling. A RealClearPolitics average of recent polls shows Bush in fifth-place among the 15 Republicans vying for their party's nomination, with Trump leading the field. Bush had emerged as the GOP's fundraising leader when he entered the contest in mid-June, raising $11.4 million over a roughly two-week period, or more than $714,000 a day. That pace slowed to nearly $146,000 each day between July and September. — USA Today
Trump counts $3.9 million in quarter
GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump has repeatedly said he doesn't need your money to fund his campaign because he's "really rich" and can handle this presidential race on his own. The only problem, contributors aren't listening. The blunt-talking billionaire says his unconventional campaign took in $3.9 million during the July-to-September fundraising quarter and almost of it was other people's cash, according to documents filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. Trump donated just $100,779 to his campaign during the three-month period. Nearly three-quarters of the $3.8 million in contributions Trump received during the quarter came in amounts of $200 or smaller. During the first fundraising quarter of his candidacy, Trump gave himself a $1.8 million loan. In all, he's spent $1,909,576 on his own campaign. Donald J. Trump for President has spent $5.5 million so far, which the candidate notes is far less than his rivals. "To be number one in every poll, both state and national, and to have spent the least amount of dollars of any serious candidate is a testament to what I can do for America," Trump said in a statement. And, for the record, the campaign says they will continue to take small-dollar donations as people "proudly invest" in Trump's vision. — USA Today
Clinton stockpiles $33 million in cash
Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton is raising and spending more than any other White House candidate, as she races to build a substantial field operation in her second bid for the presidency. Her campaign amassed nearly $29.5 during the third quarter, most of which can be used for the primary fight, and her aides quickly burned through $25.8 million in those three months. Despite the heavy spending, Clinton headed into the fall campaign with $33 million in available cash reserves for the nomination battle, edging past the $27 million rival Bernie Sanders had in leftover money at the start of October. No other candidate — Democrat or Republican — had stockpiled as much money as Clinton for the race that may ultimately cost more than $2 billion. Clinton and Sanders have set a blistering fundraising pace, racing past the leading Republican candidates over the summer and building big donor pools. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, has parlayed his popularity with liberals into a substantial campaign war chest, raising more than $26 million during the quarter. He claims 650,000 donors; Clinton said she has roughly 400,000. The closest rival to the Democrats in fundraising: Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who collected more than $20 million between July and September, 60% of which came in amounts smaller than $200. Candidates favored by the Republican establishment, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush, lagged far behind. One of Clinton's largest expenses during the third quarter: staff. Roughly $8.7 million — more than a third of her operating costs — went to payroll and related expenses. — USA Today
Bernie Sanders has $27 million to spend
Bernie Sanders proved this week he can fill his bank account as fast as he can fill an arena. The challenge now for the independent senator from Vermont is to convert all that money — he has $27 million to spend — into a winning campaign for president. Over the summer months, Sanders kept pace with Clinton's fundraising, collecting more than $26 million from July 1 to Sept. 30, a time when Clinton raised $29 million. Three-quarters of Sanders' contributions were for $200 or less, though he did net about 300 checks of $2,700, the legal maximum, from donors including actor Danny DeVito, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Andrew Rappaport and New York entrepreneur Henry Jarecki. Sanders greatest expense was "campaign paraphernalia," FEC documents show. Most of that went to Tigereye Promotions LLC, which says online that it is "a union shop specializing in promotional products," such as T-shirts. Sanders' no-frills approach to the race showed up in his spending report. His campaign paid for about $4,000 in room reservations through Airbnb, an Internet sharing service that's often cheaper than hotel stays, and he uniformly traveled on commercial airlines. There are signs that Sanders can continue to count on a cash influx. In the hours after Tuesday's Democratic debate, he raised upward of $2.5 million. That's more than Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul raised all summer for his Republican presidential bid. — Associated Press
Graham gets $1 million, spends $2 million
Sen. Lindsey Graham raised $1.052 million in the third quarter and has $1.65 million cash on hand, his presidential campaign said Thursday. Graham, the South Carolina Republican who has made foreign policy his campaign focus, spent almost $2 million between July 1 and Sept. 30. His fundraising is modest compared to the front runners in the Republican field, but he starts the fourth quarter with more in his campaign account than Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Chris Christie of New Jersey. Graham's campaign travel has focused on New Hampshire in recent weeks. Graham declared his candidacy June 1 and had raised $3.7 million through June 30, including a $1.5 million transfer from his Senate campaign account. A pro-Graham super PAC, Security is Strength, has also been financing ads in the Granite State. — USA Today
GOP governors lag in race for campign money
The sitting governors running for the Republican presidential nomination are finding their fundraising woefully behind the amounts pulled in by their competitors, the July-September campaign finance reports show. Documents filed Thursday with federal regulators show the trio of remaining governors — Ohio's John Kasich, New Jersey's Chris Christie and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal — have been struggling to bring in money and burning through it quickly, leaving them with little in the bank compared with their rivals. The numbers are especially troubling for Jindal, who began October with just $261,000 left in the bank — an amount that will make it hard for him to sustain any kind of serious operation through the early-voting state of Iowa, on which he's staking his bid. In contrast, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson reported raising $20.1 million over the three-month period, while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush brought in $13.4 million. Even billionaire businessman Donald Trump, who has not been engaged in traditional fundraising, managed to bring in nearly $4 million over the timeframe. Still, Jindal's campaign sought to downplay the low filing, which does not include money raised by a Super PAC supporting his bid. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also entered October in a difficult position. While his campaign brought in $4.2 million, on par with Kasich, he began the month with just $1.4 million on hand. That's less than Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who had one of the worst fundraising periods, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose low polling kept him off the main stage in the first two GOP debates. Christie and his aides had sought to downplay concerns that the campaign is spending at too fast a pace. "I'm traveling, we're advertising, I'm paying bills. We're doing fine," Christie recently told reporters during a swing through New Hampshire. "We are on track to be in the best position possible come January and February," senior campaign adviser Mike DuHaime added in a statement. Kasich, who was the last major candidate to enter the race, raised about $4.4 million and had $2.6 million left to spend as the month began. He's been spending at a slower clip than Christie as he's built his operation, however, leaving him with almost twice as much money as the two go head-to-head in the early-voting state of New Hampshire. — The Associated Press
John Kasich’s fundraising trails GOP rivals
Ohio Gov. John Kasich raised $4.4 million in his first two and a half months as a presidential candidate, trailing the third-quarter fundraising of nearly all his rivals for the GOP nomination. The fundraising total released Thursday puts Kasich behind candidates ranging from poll leaders Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, to established politicians Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, to Tea Party darling Ted Cruz. Since other candidates have been raising money longer than Kasich, the $2.7 million the Ohio governor's campaign had in the bank on Oct. 1 also trails those candidates' cash-on-hand figures. That raises questions about Kasich's ability to build a campaign operation that will compete with the likes of Bush, even though Kasich has strong support among New Hampshire's political leaders and a political action committee running commercials on his behalf. Still, the Kasich campaign has kicked off with relative frugality. Kasich spent 40% of the haul he raised since his July 21 campaign launch — far below the "burn rate" of Bush, the former Florida governor. Bush's torrid fundraising pace slowed dramatically in the three months that ended Sept. 30. When he first became a candidate, Bush raised $11.4 million over a roughly two-week period. He then spent the next three months raising $13.4 million — and spent almost all of it. He started October with $10.3 million on hand. Kasich's campaign edged out one key rival: New Jersey's Chris Christie. The two are both governors with some moderate stances and plain-spoken styles, so they're likely competing for the same group of voters. Christie reported a fundraising haul of $4.2 million in the three months that ended Sept. 30. He started the month with just $1.4 million in the bank. — USA Today
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