U.S. President Joe Biden gives a thumbs up as he departs for Japan from the White House in Washington, May 17, 2023.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
President Joe Biden and Democrats have developed a joint 50-state fundraising strategy aimed at giving him a financially overwhelming advantage over potential Republican challengers.
Biden’s joint fundraising committee, the Biden Victory Fund, is currently working with all 50 state Democratic committees, as well as local committees in Washington, D.C., to raise money for the campaign, Biden’s campaign told CNBC.
The nationwide effort is shaping up to be a bigger strategy than the one used during Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, when the same fundraiser raised more than $600 million and donated millions to 47 Democratic states, according to the nonpartisan OpenSecrets. One million U.S. dollars. The Biden committee also helps raise money for the Democratic National Committee.
A senior DNC official told CNBC that the Biden Victory Fund will raise money with committees from Iowa, California, South Dakota and Illinois, in addition to all the state committees they work with in 2020. None of the four state boards raised money through the Biden Victory Fund in 2020, according to OpenSecrets.
The Biden team says the new effort represents the first time a presidential candidate has reached a joint fundraising deal with every state, plus the District of Columbia
“While MAGA Republicans are burning through their primaries, competing for the most extreme agenda, the President’s campaign will use this opportunity to marshal significant resources that will help expand our Biden coalition to win 2020,” Biden’s Julie C. Rodriguez 2024 campaign manager said in a statement to CNBC. “Combined with our strong grassroots fundraising network, campaigns have never had stronger fundraising tools and longer runways, and in this election put freedom and democracy at risk — and we intend to use them.”
During the 2020 election cycle, Biden’s campaign alone raised more than $1 billion. More than $700 million of that came from online grassroots donations, the Biden team said. Likewise, the DNC received over $100 million in funding through the Biden Victory Fund and completed over $491 million in revenue during the cycle.
An enhanced joint fundraising strategy could give Biden’s campaign and the Democratic Party a major general election boost. The new agreement allows the Biden Victory Fund to receive up to $929,600 from individual donors, according to DNC officials.
States that receive financial resources from Biden’s committee could use those funds to boost their presidential candidacy or fend off Republicans trying to flip congressional seats.
In theory, the Biden Victory Fund would send checks of $929,600 to the Biden campaign ($6,600) and the Democratic National Committee ($41,300), with $510,000 split across all states.
The rest of the money goes to DNC auxiliary accounts, such as money dedicated to organizing the party’s convention.