Donald Trump’s felony conviction remains a huge fundraising motivator for supporters of his re-election campaign, with the main super PAC backing the former president and raising $70 million in the process.
The political action committee Make America Great Again Inc. reports that it raised nearly $70 million in May.
And in a memo obtained by the New York TimesPAC says it plans to use $100 million throughout the summer to really ramp up campaigns in key swing states that will determine the outcome in November.
In late April, the former president’s criminal hush-money case went to trial and a month later, on May 30, he was found guilty of 34 crimes. The case stemmed from Trump’s falsification of business records by paying off porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their affair before the 2016 presidential election.
Now, just five months before the 2024 election, Trump has become a convicted felon and awaits sentencing on July 11 — just weeks after his first debate with President Joe Biden is scheduled.
Donors flocked to support former President Donald Trump during the New York hush money trial and after his guilty plea
MAGA super PAC wrote to its donors that by spending $100 million through Labor Day, the team will focus on an advertising campaign to reach voters in rustbelt states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and sunbelt states like Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina and Nevada.
All seven states are must-wins in the battle for 270 Electoral College votes in the 2024 election. And almost every general election poll shows Trump edging Biden in all or most swing states.
The Rust Belt states are home to Trump’s old base of white, working-class voters — but even Michigan and Wisconsin went from red in 2016 to blue in 2020. Now Trump hopes to win them back in the fall.
Taylor Budowich, CEO of MAGA PAC, wrote a letter to donors after the group saw a fundraising surge in Manhattan last week that matched Trump’s will.
Previously, Democrats had a huge cash advantage over Republicans in the 2024 elections, but that could change with MAGA PAC’s gains combined with Trump’s campaign claiming it would raise 141 million in the days following the guilty verdict dollars had been raised.
Claims about fundraising numbers cannot be independently verified until campaign finance reports are publicly released.
Supporters lined the streets outside the Manhattan courthouse where Trump was tried in the hush money case and found guilty of 34 crimes.
Budowich wrote in his memo that the money raised would also be used to attract voters who typically vote for Democrats — such as Latino and Black voters.
Budowich wrote in his memo that despite the good polls in swing states, it is important not to view this as a “certainty.”
MAGA Inc.’s Summer Investments will prioritize providing Team Trump with the most electoral paths to victory while geographically narrowing the battlefield in the fall,” he wrote, adding that Pennsylvania is “the ball game.”