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The upcoming Oct. 15 filing deadline for the third fundraising quarter has former President Donald Trump’s campaign already jockeying with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over their respective hauls.
But remember to take fundraising numbers announced ahead of the deadline with a grain of salt until we see the actual reports confirming these numbers.
Trump’s campaign announced Wednesday that the former president raised a whopping $45 million in the third fundraising quarter, which spanned from July through September. But it did not specify how much of this money actually flowed into Trump’s campaign. (Trump mainly fundraises through a joint fundraising committee, which then divides funds between his campaign and a PAC that has been covering his legal bills.)
Still, the Trump campaign used its fundraising announcement to knock DeSantis, whose campaign announced Thursday that it raised $15 million in the third quarter through his campaign, a joint fundraising committee and a leadership PAC.
DeSantis ended the quarter with just $5 million that could be spent on the primary, which “reignites doubts about his solvency, budgeting and ability to gain ground on front-running former President Donald Trump,” write NBC News’ Jonathan Allen, Henry J. Gomez, Matt Dixon and Natasha Korecki. They also report that the lack of funds has the DeSantis campaign moving staff from Florida to Iowa instead of hiring more local staffers.
“The cash crunch has accelerated in the past month. It’s a huge problem,” one DeSantis donor told NBC News. “If it continues to trend downwards and Trump continues to poll ahead, at some point they’re going to have to figure out if it makes sense to pull out and save face for 2028.”
In other campaign news …
Speaker drama collides with campaign trail: Some House Republicans have floated Trump as a possible speaker, and the former president did not rule it out on Wednesday. Trump also said that he did not encourage Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. And Politico reports that McCarthy, a Trump ally, did not ask Trump to help him save his speakership.
Early state signs: A pair of polls released Wednesday in New Hampshire and South Carolina show Trump continuing to dominate the GOP primary, but former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley rising to second place.
Taking sides: Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., picked up a notable endorsement in his race against Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, with the abortion-rights group Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice America, throwing its support behind the congressman, NBC News’ Kate Santaliz reports.
Longshot race: Tennessee Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson, one of the “Tennessee three” admonished for protesting on the state House floor, raised $1.3 million last quarter for her Senate race, but that still lagged behind GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn, per the Associated Press.
Jersey shakeup: Politico details how New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s recent indictment is shaking up politics in the state, as jockeying begins for his Senate seat and a future governor’s race.
He’s back: Republican J.R. Majewski is back in the race against Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who defeated Majewski last year in a Trump district. Majewski had launched another run, but dropped out of the race earlier this year due to his mother’s health. But now he’s back in, per the AP.
