Romney Campaign Outraises Obama by $16.8 Million in May
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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/PeteSouza/White House(WASHINGTON) — For the first time this year, Mitt Romney’s campaign has bested President Obama’s re-election effort in a one-month fundraising period.
The Romney campaign, along with the Republican National Committee and a joint fundraising committee set up between the two entities called Romney Victory, raised $76.8 million last month, the campaign announced on Thursday. The campaign and the RNC also reported ending the month with $107 million cash on hand.
That massive haul tops what the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised in May by more than $16 million, according to their figures announced Thursday morning.
“It is clear that people aren’t willing to buy into ‘hope & change’ again,” Romney’s national finance chairman, Spencer Zwick, said in a statement. “Voters are making an investment because they believe that it will benefit the country.”
Romney and the RNC formed a joint fundraising committee in early April, but May was the first full month that the Republicans and Democrats went head-to-head on fundraising with Romney as the presumptive Republican nominee. GOP officials said last month’s totals offer an “apples to apples” comparison — which they won.
“Our strong fundraising is a sign that Americans are tired of President Obama’s broken promises and want a change of direction in the White House,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement.
The Romney campaign noted that 93 percent of all donations received were $250 or less, for a total of $12 million. The campaign took in contributions from all 50 states.
But the Obama campaign and the DNC still raised more in May — $60 million — than they did in either of the last two months. Their May total is an improvement from the $43.6 million they raised in April and the $53 million reported in March. (The figures include funds raised by Obama for America, the DNC and two joint accounts.)
“We assumed that he would outraise us in the first month of the general since this was the first full month the joint committee was in existence, allowing his core donors to write their max-out checks,” an Obama campaign official told ABC News.
The Obama campaign declined on Thursday to release its cash-on-hand figure. The campaign and the DNC ended the month of April with $143 million in the bank.
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