Nikki Haley has suggested that she had raked in more campaign cash than former president Donald Trump in her first fundraising quarter as a presidential candidate - but the numbers aren’t quite that simple.
Having a strong first fundraising quarter for a presidential candidate can build incredible momentum. It shows that a candidate has enough cash to see through a campaign through the long haul. And as if like a tautology, raising a ton of cash often leads them to raise more money.
Ms Haley’s campaign announced on Wednesday that she had raised $11m in just the six weeks since she announced her candidacy in February. Her campaign added that she had outraised Mr Trump in the previous fundraising quarter, when he brought in $9.5m in the fourth quarter of last year.
The numbers are not entirely symmetric, though.
For one, Mr Trump announced his candidacy a week after the 2022 midterm elections, which, like Ms Haley’s announcement, happened midway through the second week of the second month of a fundraising quarter.
That means many donors had already exhausted their wallets throughout the midterm election and most were not thinking of presidential campaigns.
In addition, Mr Trump’s campaign has yet to release how much money it raised this fundraising quarter. The fundraising quarter, which spans from 1 January to 31 March, also includes the timespan within which a grand jury voted to indict Mr Trump.
Shortly after the indictment, Mr Trump’s adviser Jason Miller said on Monday that the campaign had raised $7m since the grand jury voted to indict him, which would be more than half the amount Ms Haley raised in the first quarter.
On Tuesday, Mr Miller tweeted that the post-indictment tally had jumped to $10m.
Still, it’s not clear how much of that came before the fundraising deadline. But the former president also made his announcement he would be indicted in the middle of March and he could have raised much more. Which is to say, an indictment was also a fundraising opportunity for Mr Trump.
