Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign raised $13.38 million in the third quarter, meaning he failed to keep pace with his second quarter fundraising haul.
Among other GOP presidential candidates who have announced their third quarter fundraising figures, Bush trails only Ben Carson who raised more than $20 million.
The Bush campaign amassed $11.4 million during the 16 days between Bush’s formal campaign launch and the end of the second quarter reporting period. His $13.38 million raised in the following three months ending Sept. 30 indicate that the fundraising dynamo has lost some momentum.
He raised more than $712,500 per day in the sixteen days in June, and $230,000 per day in the third quarter.
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“The overall effort supporting Jeb will be better funded than any other in the entire field and the campaign has a formidable grassroots organization in the early states that is making thousands of voter contacts and recruiting volunteers for February,” wrote campaign manager Danny Diaz in a memo to Bush staffers. “The fundamentals that drive campaigns remain critically important, and show Governor Bush is in a strong position to be the Republican nominee and defeat Hillary Clinton next November.”
In conjunction with the third quarter fundraising numbers, the Bush campaign also plans to release his 2014 tax return and health records.
In July, the Bush team released his second quarter fundraising numbers five days before the reporting deadline despite having formally launched his campaign less than a month earlier. In October the campaign waited until the day of the FEC reporting deadline to make its quarterly report public and combined it with the other records.
The Bush campaign insisted its release of records on Thursday was part of their ongoing effort to be transparent and said, “this far exceeds the level of transparency offered by other candidates in the field.” The campaign also sought to compare the fundraising figure to 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who raised slightly more than $14 million during the third quarter of 2011.
But reports have begun to emerge that the governor has begun trimming the fat from his campaign. In a recent trip to Iowa, the governor reportedly stayed at a cheaper hotel than originally planned and appears to be traveling on commercial flights more often than on the private planes to which he had grown accustomed. As the final months before the first nominating states approach the governor may need a lean and mean campaign to match his new physique.
