Trump raises staggering sum as campaign goes virtual to drum up support
Trump's first virtual fundraiser comes days after he held his first online rallies with supporters
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Trump went virtual – and it paid off.
The president raised a massive $20 million from over 300,000 donors as he held the first virtual fundraiser of his 2020 reelection campaign on Tuesday evening.
The eye-popping haul is nearly double the $11 million raised last month by Democratic challenger Joe Biden at a fundraiser co-hosted by his one-time boss, former President Obama. Fox News confirmed that Biden and Obama will team up again next Tuesday for a second fundraiser.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BIDEN, OBAMA, TO TEAM UP NEXT WEEK FOR SECOND FUNDRAISER
While the presumptive Democratic nominee has eschewed in-person fundraisers since the coronavirus pandemic swept the nation in March, the president has continued to hold such gatherings. The Trump campaign says the president brought in $10 million at a private in-person fundraiser held earlier this month in Hillsboro Beach, Fla., and an equal amount at a fundraiser last month in Dallas, Texas. He raised roughly $3 million at an in-person fundraiser at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., last month.
Tuesday’s virtual fundraiser, which was co-hosted by Trump Victory Finance Committee national chair Kimberly Guilfoyle, came as the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) edged the president’s campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) in fundraising the past two months.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Biden and the DNC have also taken a big bite out of the once vast cash on hand advantage enjoyed by Trump and the RNC. With three and a half months to go until November’s general election, Tuesday’s fundraiser will help fatten the president’s already rich campaign coffers.
The Trump campaign told Fox News that they plan "to repeat the innovative and inclusive format."
But that doesn’t mean top-dollar in-person fundraisers will be going away. A leading Republican donor and bundler who helps raise money for the Trump campaign told Fox News that there will be a “fuller pivot to in-person large fundraisers.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The president’s first stab at holding online fundraisers came just days after he held his first online rallies.
Trump phoned into supporters in Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan and North Carolina in separate events that were streamed on the campaign’s Facebook page.