Presidential election campaign finance, 2024
Date: November 5, 2024  |
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016 |
Every presidential candidate is required to register with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and file regular financial reports detailing their fundraising and campaign spending. During presidential election years, candidates who anticipate that they will raise or spend more than $100,000 must file monthly reports. Candidates who anticipate that they will raise and spend less than $100,000 file on a quarterly schedule, as do all presidential candidates during non-presidential election years.
This page covers raising and spending through the Pre-General reports, which cover all funds raised and spent from October 1, 2024, to October 16, 2024.
Presidential candidate financial overview
Note: Joe Biden's (D) principal campaign committee became Vice President Kamala Harris' (D) principal campaign committee on July 21, 2024. Click here to read more about the change.[1]
Fundraising
The following chart displays noteworthy general election presidential candidates' overall fundraising over time through the Pre-General campaign finance reports. Note that the chart only displays data for principal campaign committees, not candidate-affiliated PACs or joint fundraising committees. Hover over each line for more specific figures.
Spending
The following chart displays noteworthy general election presidential candidates' overall spending over time through the Pre-General campaign finance reports. Note that the chart only displays data for principal campaign committees, not candidate-affiliated PACs or joint fundraising committees. Hover over each line for more specific figures.
Cash on hand
The following chart displays cash on hand—a measurement of how much money a campaign has currently available in its campaign accounts—for noteworthy general election presidential candidates as of each reporting deadline during the 2024 campaign cycle. Note that the chart only displays data for principal campaign committees, not candidate-affiliated PACs or joint fundraising committees.
Response to Biden-Harris principal campaign committee transfer
Following President Joe Biden's (D) withdrawal from the presidential race on July 21, 2024, the campaign transferred ownership of Biden's principal campaign committee to Vice President Kamala Harris (D), who was previously designated as one of the committee's authorizing candidates as Biden's running mate.[2] Former President Donald Trump's (R) campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over the transfer, saying, "Kamala Harris is seeking to perpetrate a $91.5 million dollar heist of Joe Biden’s leftover campaign cash — a brazen money grab that would constitute the single largest excessive contribution and biggest violation in the history of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended."[3]
Harris campaign spokesman Charles Lutvak said, "Republicans may be jealous that Democrats are energized to defeat Donald Trump and his MAGA allies, but baseless legal claims — like the ones they’ve made for years to try to suppress votes and steal elections — will only distract them while we sign up volunteers, talk to voters, and win this election."[3]
Republican FEC Chairman Sean Cooksey said, "I think it’s really complicated, is the short answer. What he’s [Biden] attempting to do is to give his entire committee, the cash and all the assets, over to another person. [...] I think it’s gonna have to go through a process, through the FEC. I expect, there’s probably going to be challenges to that at the agency, and probably in the courts as well."[3]
Democratic FEC Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum said, "It’s quite clear, Vice President Harris can continue using the campaign committee and its funds."[3] Former Republican FEC Commissioner and senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation Hans von Spakovsky wrote an op-ed for Fox News saying Harris could use the Biden campaign funds "because when the Biden for President committee filed its registration statement with the FEC, it registered itself as the 'principal campaign committee' for both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris."[4]
Historical comparisons
In this section, you will find fundraising comparisons for candidates and committees in the 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024 campaign cycles. This section looks at fundraising over each four-year presidential cycle, so "Year 1" refers to the year after the last election (2005/2009/2013/2017/2021), "Year 2" to the midterm before the election (2006/2010/2014/2018/2022), etc.
All figures in this section referring to previous election cycles have been inflation-adjusted. Inflation adjustment was calculated by comparing January 2021 to January of Year 1 of the previous cycle in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI Inflation Calculator. This resulted in an 8% increase for figures from the 2020 campaign cycle, a 14% increase for figures from the 2016 campaign cycle, a 24% increase for figures from the 2012 campaign cycle, and a 37% increase for figures from the 2008 campaign cycle.
Presidential candidates
The following charts compare campaign finance figures for the major-party nominees in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 to 2024 figures for Donald Trump (R) and Kamala Harris (D).
Receipts
Cash on hand
Party committees and incumbent presidents
- See also: Party committee fundraising, 2023-2024
The following chart compares combined fundraising figures for the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Donald Trump (R) during the 2020 campaign cycle with those for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Kamala Harris (D) in the 2024 campaign cycle.
Reporting deadlines
Every presidential candidate is required to register with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and file regular financial reports detailing their fundraising and campaign spending. During presidential election years, candidates who anticipate that they will raise more than $100,000 or spend more than $100,000 must file reports on a monthly schedule. Candidates who anticipate that they will raise and spend less than $100,000 are required to file on a quarterly schedule. During non-presidential election years, all presidential candidates are required to file quarterly reports regardless of how much money they plan on raising or spending.[5]
Monthly reporting schedule
The following table details reporting deadlines for candidates filing finance reports on a monthly schedule.
Quarterly reporting schedule
The following table details reporting deadlines for candidates filing finance reports on a quarterly schedule.
Democratic primary financial overview
The following charts display noteworthy Democratic primary candidates' overall fundraising through the April 2024 monthly campaign finance reports. Note that the chart only displays data for principal campaign committees, not candidate-affiliated PACs or joint fundraising committees. The charts below include campaign finance reports beginning at the point the FEC started classifying the committee as a presidential candidate's principal campaign finance committee and ending after candidates withdrew from the primary.
Republican primary financial overview
The following charts display noteworthy Republican primary candidates' overall fundraising through the April 2024 monthly campaign finance reports. Note that the charts only display data for principal campaign committees, not candidate-affiliated PACs or joint fundraising committees. The charts below include campaign finance reports beginning at the point the FEC starts classifying the committee as a presidential candidate's principal campaign finance committee, and ending after the campaign withdrew from the primary.
See also
Use the dropdown menu below to navigate Ballotpedia's historical coverage of presidential election campaign finance.
Footnotes
- ↑ FEC, "STATEMENT OF ORGANIZATION," accessed July 23, 2024
- ↑ FEC, "STATEMENT OF ORGANIZATION," accessed July 24, 2024
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 The Hill, "Trump files FEC complaint over transfer of Biden cash to Harris," July 23, 2024
- ↑ CBS News, "Trump campaign files complaint with FEC seeking to keep Biden from transferring campaign funds to Harris," July 24, 2024
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "FEC Disclosure Form 3P," accessed February 17, 2023
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