The independent political group supporting former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s US presidential ambitions on Thursday said it raised US$103 million in the first six months of the year.
The Right to Rise super political action committee’s (PAC) huge haul combined with the US$11.4 million that Bush’s actual campaign raised in the second quarter marks an unprecedented war chest as Bush gears up for a competitive Republican Party primary race.
The Bush camp accomplished its goal, expressed to supporters earlier this year, of raking in at least US$100 million by the end of last month, a feat no doubt intended to intimidate other White House candidates.
Photo: AP
Super PACs, political action committees that can raise unlimited funds, but are barred from coordinating with a candidate or their campaign, have become vital tools for candidates seeking to tap into the enthusiasm of big donors.
No other candidate has reported numbers close to Bush’s, although former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton announced on July 1 that her campaign alone raised US$45 million in the first quarter of her presidential bid.
Bernie Sanders, a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, said the eye-popping sums raised by Bush — and the huge checks he said were likely needed to raise the funds — highlight everything that is wrong with the US campaign finance system.
“Jeb Bush and others who take big amounts from the wealthy and powerful come up with an agenda that represents the wealthy and the powerful,” Sanders said late on Thursday in remarks to the Northern Virginia Democratic Party.
“This is not democracy. This is called oligarchy,” he said.
Clinton used Bush’s massive campaign haul to seek donations from her own backers.
“We still don’t know the details of who gave all that money, but we believe some of it came in the form of million and even multimillion-dollar checks from a small handful of right-wing mega-donors,” top Clinton campaign aide Robby Mook said in an online fundraising appeal.
“We don’t have any multimillion-dollar checks in our bank. We rely on supporters like you chipping in whatever you can afford, whether that’s [US]$5 or [US]$2,700,” Mook said.
“Their money is loud, but our grassroots army can be louder,” he said of Bush and other Republican presidential contenders.
Clinton’s campaign has been highlighting the grassroots nature of her donations, saying that 91 percent of her April-June donations were US$100 or less.
Right to Rise, which claimed it has US$98 million cash on hand, said 95 percent of its donors contributed US$25,000 or less.
The campaign of US Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican primary rival, said it has raised US$14.2 million. Combined with more than US$37 million donated to Cruz-backing super PACs, the total haul of US$51 million puts Cruz in the top money tier.
The super PAC backing Republican Senator Marco Rubio’s presidential run, Conservative Solutions, said it raised US$16 million from January through last month. Rubio’s campaign has not announced its own numbers, but it and other campaigns must do so by July 15.
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