President Trump’s campaign raised $20 million during a virtual fundraiser Tuesday night.
“This is a great day for the president and for the country showing the robust enthusiasm for President Donald Trump,” Kimberly Guilfoyle, the campaign’s top finance official, said. “They want four more years. We had over 300,000 people log on for our event tonight to donate to the president. We raised over $20 million in the first-ever of its kind virtual Zoom event.”
Tuesday’s event featured appearances from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and virtual roundtable-style discussions about the president’s policies and plans for a second term.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began in February, the Trump campaign has been forced to shift fundraising efforts online, partnering with the Republican National Committee to build up a war chest of more than $1 billion.
“It has not dropped at all, the small-dollar [donations], through the digital and the mail program,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told the Washington Examiner in April. “And we’ve seen some pretty big days of fundraising as well.”
The president’s fundraising numbers dwarf those of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, whose campaign has reported just $633 million raised as of Monday.
Trump still lags behind Biden in most national polls, with voters expressing concern over the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his response to civil unrest and race relations.
The campaign has repeatedly said fundraising figures are a better barometer of Trump’s reelection chances than national opinion polls, which they argue, are skewed to favor Democrats.
“This shows the momentum that the president has that everyday Americans are choosing President Donald Trump,” Guilfoyle said. “The silent majority is speaking up with a willingness and a desire to vote for four more years on Nov. 3.”
