WASHINGTON – Pro President Donald Trump super PAC America First Action has been spending a lot for his Democratic rivals, causing increasing anxiety among Republicans. They are concerned if the group they hoped to be a primary attack dog against former Vice President Joe Biden may regain lost ground with just 100 days remaining in the campaign.
The two largest Democratic PACs have spent nearly four times as much on television and radio as America First, and the trend will continue, according to advertising spending figures. The two pro-Biden PACs, Priorities USA and American Bridge, have purchased $ 54.1 million in future ad purchases, while America First will spend $ 33.6 million, including a $ 23 million purchase in Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. , according to Advertising Analytics. A third Democratic super PAC, Future Forward, has set aside an additional $ 19 million in television commercials.
While the Trump campaign has spent a lot on television, with $ 70 million in ads since April, Democrats have been closing the gap. Trump’s advisers and donors have been increasingly concerned about the relative absence of an external defense against Biden, as Trump’s poll numbers have plunged and they say the group has wasted the crucial summer months that a incumbent often use to define your opponent.
“We are being beaten. Democrats are hungrier, ”said Dan Eberhart, a major Trump donor who donated to America First last year. “Many Republican informants have been wondering when America First was going to show up and start running campaign ads to mitigate the numbers of Trump’s downed polls and respond to the pro-Biden super PACs and their proliferating ads. I’m happy to see the purchase $ 23 million ad but was needed a month ago. “
Traditionally, super PACs have taken a much tougher tone against their opponents than campaigns, and there is no limit to what they can collect from individuals, as well as from so-called dark money groups where donors are kept hidden. Unlike on the Democratic side, where several large super PACs have been formed, Trump’s allies decided early on to have a primary outside group to which they would direct donors.
But America First has struggled so far to attract a broad base of Republican mega-donors, the presentations show. In April, almost all of the funds he raised came from a $ 10 million donation from Timothy Mellon, head of transportation company Pan Am Systems. In May, almost half of the $ 2.4 million raised came from a $ 1 million donation from Linda McMahon, who became the group’s president more than a year ago. Last month, nearly half of the amount raised came from a $ 2 million donation from Geoffrey Palmer, head of real estate firm GH Palmer Associates, according to the group’s latest documents released Tuesday.
Priorities USA, the largest pro-Biden PAC, has also filled its coffers with dark money and large private checks. In June, he raised $ 3.5 million of the $ 9.74 million in donations that month from a donor, a dark money group called the Sixteen Thirty Fund. That check for the Democratic group was almost the same as America First collected all month.
“The external group’s fundraising comes and goes every month, and we still have four months before Election Day,” America First spokeswoman Kelly Sadler said in an emailed statement. “As you well know, a lot can happen in the remaining months. As the economy, under the leadership of the President, continues to recover even faster than many economists had predicted, donor confidence is growing and we will see those results. “
While the super PAC cannot coordinate with the candidate or campaign, America First held a donor event on Saturday at Trump’s Golf Course in Bedminster, where the White House said the president attended as a “special guest.” Unlike a typical fundraiser, attendees were not required to purchase a ticket or pay a fee to attend, a move that helps super PACs avoid breaking the law and prevent candidates from raising unlimited amounts of money.
America First said earlier this month that it would launch a $ 23 million ad campaign targeting Biden starting Friday in the key battlefield states of Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Democrats, meanwhile, many of whom have criticized super PACs for their lack of transparency and ability to raise unlimited sums from donors, are in a somewhat ironic position: leading the money race among those groups. But Biden signaled his openness to supporting Super PAC last year, and even former aides to Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the loudest opponents of money in politics, started their own group to support Biden after Sanders dropped out of the race. .
On the Republican side, there has been increasing competition for donor dollars, a Republican strategist said. With a number of Senate Republicans facing tougher re-election battles than expected, donors have increasingly received calls to send funds there. The Trump campaign has its own joint fundraising committee with the Republican National Committee which has been aggressively attracting donors who can donate up to $ 450,000. There was also a recent push for donors to give money to help out at the Republican National Convention, which lost millions of dollars after deciding to move the location from North Carolina to Florida and then cancel the event in person, the strategist said.
At the same time, the Biden campaign has reduced the Trump campaign’s fundraising advantage, which they had had over Democrats for the past three years. In June, Biden and the Democratic Party outnumbered Trump and the Republican Party for the second consecutive month.
While Trump still has 100 days before Election Day, voters in some key states will start voting much earlier with mail ballots. In past elections, such as in the race between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, voter views begin to solidify around Labor Day, leaving donors questioning the impact of a late push by the super PAC.
“Obama defined Romney in 2012,” said Eberhart. “And he never recovered.”
