Trump super PAC says it raised nearly $70 million in May
Donald Trump 's felony conviction remains a huge fundraising motivator for supporters of his reelection campaign with the main super PAC supporting the former president bringing in $70 million over the course of the trial.
The political action committee Make America Great Again Inc. is reporting it raised nearly $70 million in May. And in a memo obtained by the New York Times , the PAC says it plans to use $100 million throughout the summer to really hone-in on campaigning in key swing states that will determine the outcome in November.
In late April, the former president's criminal hush money case went to trial and a month later on May 30, he was found guilty on 34 felony charges. The case stemmed from Trump's falsification of business records in paying off Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their affair before the 2016 presidential election.
Now, just five months before the 2024 election, Trump has become a convicted felon and awaits sentencing set for July 11 – just weeks after his first debate is scheduled with President Joe Biden.
MAGA super PAC wrote to its donors that by spending $100 million through Labor Day, the team will focus on an advertising blitz to reach voters in rustbelt states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and sunbelt states like Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina and Nevada.
All seven states are must-wins in the bid for 270 electoral college votes in the 2024 election. And nearly every general election poll shows Trump leaving Biden in all or most of the swing states. Rust Belt states are home to Trump's longtime base of white working-class voters – but even Michigan and Wisconsin swung from red in 2016 to blue in 2020. Now, Trump is hoping to win them back in the fall.
The MAGA PAC's Chief Executive Taylor Budowich wrote to donors after the group saw a fundraising surge aligning with Trump's volition last week in Manhattan. Previously, Democrats have had a massive cash advantage over Republicans in the 2024 election, but that could change with MAGA PAC's haul combined with Trump's campaign claiming it raised $141 million in the days after the guilty verdict.
Any claims of fundraising figures cannot be independently verified until campaign finance reports are publicly released. Budowich wrote in his memo that money raised would also be used to attract voters that usually vote Democrat – like Latino and black voters. Budowich wrote in his memo that despite polling well in swing states, it's important to not count it as a 'certainty.'
'MAGA Inc.'s summer investments will prioritize providing Team Trump with the most electoral paths to victory, while narrowing the battlefield geographically come fall,' he wrote, adding that Pennsylvania is 'the ballgame.'
