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Who’s winning the 2016 money race?
Yesterday night was the deadline for campaigns and PACs to file their latest campaign finance reports, the last reports we’ll see before voting begins tonight in Iowa. The data covers June 1-Dec. 31, 2015, for super PACs and Oct. 1-Dec. 31, 2015, for campaigns, so we won’t see information about January fundraising and spending until after voting has begun. Here’s the rundown of who’s winning the 2016 money race.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders again nearly matched Hillary Clinton in fundraising, receiving $33 million to Clinton’s $38 million. Their spending was nearly neck-and-neck, too: Sanders spent $32 million, Clinton spent $33 million. That left Sanders with $28 million cash on hand and Clinton with nearly $38 million. Taking super PACs into account, though, puts Clinton into a much stronger position: Her supportive super PACs (Correct the Record, Priorities USA and American Bridge) raised $31 million. Sanders doesn’t have a super PAC dedicated solely to supporting him, but he has benefitted from expenditures made by the National Nurses Union super PAC, which raised $2 million. Martin O’Malley didn’t have as lucrative a quarter, with only $169,442 cash on hand, as well as $535,447 in debt — though he did take $846,365 in public financing in January, the only candidate to do so.
| Candidate | Amount Raised | Amount Spent | Cash on Hand | Debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillary Clinton | $38,092,325 | $33,109,849 | $37,977,647 | $978,863 |
| Bernie Sanders | $33,559,36 | $32,374,323 | $28,304,765 | $0 |
| Martin O’Malley | $1,502,107 | $2,138,65 | $169,442 | $535,477 |
There were some significant changes on the Republican side. In the first half of 2015, the pro-Jeb Bush super PAC Right to Rise USA raised a jaw-dropping $103 million. In the second half of the year, it raised only $15 million. The group still has $58 million cash on hand, more than most super PACs raised the entire year, but that’s a dramatic drop off in fundraising power — particularly since $10 million of that haul came from one corporate donation, C. V. Starr, Inc., run by ex-AIG head Hank Greenberg. Many of the biggest super PAC donors are coalescing around Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio. Donald Trump made a massive $10.8 million loan to his campaign, though he did also raise $2.6 million from donors — despite his repeated claim that he is “totally self-funding.” Ben Carson was once again the top candidate fundraiser, raising $22 million, followed closely by Cruz at $20 million.
| Candidate | Amount Raised | Amount Spent | Cash on Hand | Debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Carson | $22,627,101 | $27,331,988 | $6,567,647 | $0 |
| Carly Fiorina | $2,853,044 | $3,917,931 | $4,484,307 | $0 |
| Jeb Bush | $7,107,370 | $9,788,641 | $7,589,858 | $155,989 |
| Ted Cruz | $20,519,558 | $15,563,668 | $18,734,794 | $862,619 |
| Marco Rubio | $14,194,453 | $14,771,849 | $10,398,592 | $0 |
| Mike Huckabee | $703,945 | $1,332,112 | $133,244 | $49,471 |
| Chris Christie | $2,950,344 | $3,210,633 | $1,126,158 | $61,917 |
| Donald Trump | $13,576,294 | $6,866,742 | $6,964,324 | $12,620,297 1 |
| Rick Santorum | $247,627 | $431,233 | $42,919 | $167,401 |
| John Kasich | $3,193,731 | $3,333,575 | $2,537,300 | $0 |
| Rand Paul | $2,077,407 | $3,333,575 | $$1,270,071 | $248,367 |
| Jim Gilmore | $108,633 | $109,360 | $33,657 | $124,075 |
1 Note: Trump’s debt is misleadingly large, as the $10 million he loaned himself counts against this figure.
The Sunlight Foundation is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that uses the power of the Internet to catalyze greater government openness and transparency, and provides new tools and resources for media and citizens, alike.
Source: http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2016/02/01/whos-winning-the-2016-money-race/
