Trump has previously relied heavily on major donors to finance his career, tapping into many of the pillars of the Republican monetary circuit months ago. But in the spring, when the coronavirus pandemic shut down traditional fundraisers, it relied heavily on online contributions, with $ 167.6 million of its donations, more than 62 percent, coming from the Republicans’ leading online processing site. , WinRed, as new records show. .
Trump still had a few major taxpayers, raising $ 27 million through his joint committee with the Republican National Committee, which can accept large checks. But that was a fraction of the amount Mr. Biden raised from the largest taxpayers.
Among Trump’s biggest contributors were Isaac Perlmutter, the former chief executive of Marvel Entertainment, who has been present at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, and Bernard Marcus, a billionaire co-founder of Home Depot, who recently dined with Mr. Trump at the White House.
Some super PACs also made financial disclosures on Wednesday.
The Democratic group American Bridge, which has been running anti-Trump ads in some key battlefield states, raised more than $ 15 million, led by major contributors, including Phillip T. Ragon ($ 1.25 million), the founder of a software company; Deborah Simon ($ 1 million), heir to a shopping mall; S. Daniel Abraham ($ 1 million), the retired founder of Slim-Fast; Kenneth Duda ($ 1 million), software engineer; and Henry and Marsha Laufer ($ 1.25 million), major party fundraisers in Florida.
The group also received money through nonprofit groups that don’t disclose to their donors, called dark money, including a portion of a $ 5.7 million donation from a group called the Sixteen Thirty Fund and millions more from its own nonprofit. for profit affiliate.
Stephen F. Mandel Jr., the hedge fund manager Lone Pine Capital founded, emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors in recent months. He contributed $ 1.5 million to the American Bridge super PAC in May and another $ 1 million to Project Lincoln, a Republican-run anti-Trump super PAC, in June.
The Lincoln Project raised nearly $ 17 million in the second quarter, with donations from some of the largest Democratic Party donors. He has earned a reputation as an irritant to Trump, running ads during some of the favorite shows of famous and voracious television consumers.
