US presidential candidate Biden scores best fund-raising month ever in May
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Democratic US presidential candidate Joe Biden speaking at a campaign event devoted to the reopening of the US economy, in Philadelphia, on June 11, 2020.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee jointly raised US$80.8 million (S$112.6 million) in May, the Biden campaign said on Monday (June 15), the most the campaign has collected in any month.
Biden, who raised significantly more than April's US$60.5 million, has built a lead over Republican President Donald Trump in national opinion polls, amid the twin crises of the coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest over police brutality in many US cities.
The campaign said it had tripled its online donors since February and recorded an average online donation of US$30 in May.
But Trump still holds a massive cash advantage, after three years of fund-raising efforts.
Still, the haul demonstrates the progress Biden's fund-raising operation has made since the former vice president secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination, following a primary contest in which he was often outraised by rivals.
On Monday night, one of those former rivals, Senator Elizabeth Warren, helped Biden raise US$6 million from 620 donors for an online fund-raiser featuring both politicians - the most for any Biden event thus far.
Several top Biden fund-raisers told Reuters this month they were seeing a swell of support as the country was gripped by widespread protests over the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody.
The Trump campaign has not announced its May figures. In April, Trump and the Republican National Committee jointly brought in US$61.7 million, barely edging out the Democrats.
The committee and the Trump campaign raised US$14 million on Sunday (June 14), Trump's 74th birthday.
Last week, Trump attended his first in-person fund-raiser in months, due to the pandemic. Biden, who has only recently resumed occasional travel, has continued to hold virtual fund-raisers.
In a statement, Biden said: "Just a few months ago, people were ready to write this campaign off. Now, we are making huge dents in Donald Trump's war chest."
