By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden's 2024 re-election campaign said on Friday that it and the Democratic Party raised $72 million during the first quarter since the campaign launched.
Biden, who launched his campaign in April, had $77 million in cash on hand at the end of June across several fundraising entities and the Democratic Party.
Those funds give him the ability to push out advertisements in swing states and start to build out a campaign team ahead of what could be a $1 billion campaign and the most expensive race in history.
The closely watched figure is viewed as a test of enthusiasm among both grassroots and wealthy donors for Biden, 80, who fought doubts about his age in deciding to seek a second, four-year term in 2024.
Republican front-runner, former President Donald Trump, raised more than $35 million during the April-June period, a campaign official had said.
The Biden campaign is required to submit financial records to the Federal Election Commission by Saturday.
"While Republicans are burning through resources in a divisive primary focused on who can take the most extreme MAGA positions, we are significantly outraising every single one of them - because our team's strength is our grassroots supporters," said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden's campaign manager, in a statement.
The campaign said the donations came from 394,000 donors and that 30% were new contributors since the 2020 campaign. They held 38 fundraising events during the quarter, with Biden traveling around the country to small group events with top contributors.
(Reporting by Trevor HunnicuttEditing by Alistair Bell)
