Presidential campaign fundraising, 2008-2016

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2016 Presidential Election Date: November 8, 2016

Candidates Winner: Donald Trump (R) Hillary Clinton (D) • Jill Stein (G) • Gary Johnson (L) • Vice presidential candidates

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Presidential candidates had raised, as of October 2016, more than $1 billion through their principal campaign committees this election cycle. In addition to providing the funds necessary to sustain a political operation, the contributions a campaign receives can provide a quantifiable indication of the enthusiasm voters have for a candidate. In 2008, the last election cycle without an incumbent, total contributions to presidential candidates exceeded $1.6 billion.

On this page, the fundraising efforts of Hillary Clinton's and Donald Trump's principal campaign committees are compared to those of the 2008 and 2012 presidential nominees on monthly contributions, total receipts, operating expenditures, and cash on hand.

Principal campaign committees

Ballotpedia examined the monthly filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for each Democratic and Republican presidential nominees' principal campaign committee for 2008, 2012, and 2016. A principal campaign committee is "an authorized committee designated by a candidate as the principal committee to raise contributions and make expenditures for his or her campaign." This committee is the primary fundraising apparatus for a presidential candidate.

We reviewed financial summaries for the following five principal campaign committees:

• Hillary Clinton: Hillary for America
• John McCain: John McCain 2008 Inc.
• Barack Obama: Obama for America
• Mitt Romney: Romney for President, Inc.
• Donald Trump: Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.

When campaigns announce fundraising totals at the end of each month to the press, they frequently include totals for contributions to joint fundraising committees formed with national and state political parties, in addition to the principal campaign committee's haul.

For example, the Clinton campaign announced that it had raised $68.5 million in June 2016. This figure included both contributions to Hillary for America and the Hillary Victory Fund, a committee organized through a joint fundraising agreement between the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and some Democratic state parties. Contributions to joint fundraising committees like the Hillary Victory Fund, however, are not disbursed exclusively to the presidential nominee. According to its report to the FEC, Hillary for America recorded $36.4 million in total receipts in June, including $11.5 million transferred from the Hillary Victory Fund.

Since joint fundraising committees report separately to the FEC and allocate money to several political committees, Ballotpedia only compared the performance of each presidential nominee's principal campaign committee. Any transfers from joint fundraising committees were captured in each principal campaign committee's monthly total receipts.

While super PACs are frequently mentioned in campaign finance discussions, they have also been excluded from this analysis since they are prohibited from donating directly to a candidate and may not coordinate with a candidate's principal campaign committee.

Monthly financial summaries

From each principal campaign committee's monthly report to the FEC, we collected data for the following four line items:

• Contributions from individuals and political committees includes contributions from individuals, political party committees, other political committees, and the candidate himself or herself. It excludes loans to the campaign and offsets to expenditures like rebates. It also does not include federal matching funds.

• Total receipts includes contributions from individuals, political party committees, other political committees, the candidate himself or herself, loans to the campaign, rebates, refunds, and federal matching funds, if any. This figure also includes transfers from authorized committees like joint fundraising committees.

• Operating expenditures include disbursements for operating costs like media advertising, newspaper advertising, salaries, travel, rent, and telephones. It excludes refunds to contributors, loan repayments, or transfers to authorized committees.

• Cash on hand refers to the total funds a committee has on balance at the end of the month.

Historical comparisons

Democratic Party

HIGHLIGHTS

As a presidential nominee, President Barack Obama generally outperformed Hillary Clinton in monthly contributions with the exception of early 2012 when he was not actively campaigning for a second term.

Between January 2016 and October 2016, the Clinton campaign maintained $29 million cash on hand or more each month. It started August 2016 with $58.5 million cash on hand.

Republican Party

HIGHLIGHTS

Until June 2016, Donald Trump was significantly underperforming in contributions to his campaign when compared to his predecessors, U.S. Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.).

Trump also maintained a comparatively low amount of cash on hand, hovering between $1.3 million and $2.4 million for the first five months of 2016.

In September 2016, Trump spent more on operating expenditures than either McCain or Romney did in a single month at any point in their campaigns.