Donald Trump opened his wallet wide for his presidential campaign in March, loaning it $11.5 million, nearly twice as much as he shelled out in any previous month, according to a report filed Wednesday night with the Federal Election Commission.

Trump’s campaign also increased its spending, shelling out nearly $13.8 million, marking the first month in which he outspent his main rival for the GOP nomination, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who spent $11.8 million last month.


The leading campaigns and super PACs on both sides of the aisle appear set for a big-spending dash through the final primaries on June 7.

Trump, whose campaign has been notoriously tightfisted, is pledging to spend $20 million in the coming weeks. And, while he has touted his rejection of super PACs, one devoted to him showed some signs that it might have big-money supporters. Great America, led by former Ron Paul aide Jesse Benton, spent $1.2 million supporting the billionaire in March but raised only $475,500, ending the month $684,599 in the hole — suggesting either that it has donors lined up or that it’s a sinking ship.

Cruz finished March with $8.8 million in the bank and has boasted of continued strong fundraising, while the super PACs supporting him in March raised $10.4 million, spent $9.5 million and finished with $20.6 million in the bank.

And the leading super PAC dedicated to stopping Trump from winning the nomination, Our Principles PAC, gathered $8.4 million from some top Republican donors but blew through $11.2 million, ending the month with $424,000. Another major Trump critic, Club for Growth Action, raised $2.9 million and spent $2.5 million but has targeted and boosted other candidates, too. Other efforts, such as Make America Awesome and Never Means Never PAC, didn’t amount to much.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders continued their impressive fundraising, with the insurgent Vermont senator outraising the front-runner for the third straight month. But Sanders also outspent her, $45.7 million to $28.7 million, and ended the month with $17.5 million cash on hand, to her $29 million.

Pro-Clinton forces continued stockpiling cash, with the main super PAC devoted to the former secretary of state, Priorities USA Action, finishing March with an impressive $44.7 million in the bank.

While Trump has held up his wealth and willingness to self-fund as attributes, his allies have hinted that he will likely seek outside cash for a general election that is expected to cost upwards of $1 billion for each party’s nominee and super PAC allies.

There’s little evidence in Wednesday’s report that he has taken steps in that direction, though. He accepted $2.7 million in donations — mostly from small donors — bringing his total outside fundraising for the campaign to $12.2 million. By comparison, Trump had loaned his campaign nearly $36 million and donated more than $317,000, mostly in in-kind services.

Wednesday’s report did reveal some signs that Trump’s campaign was loosening its purse strings for traditional campaign expenses. It spent $6.3 million on advertising — by far the most it’s spent on ads in any month — as well as $1 million on digital and website consulting and $890,000 on telemarketing and data.

But Trump also spent more on T-shirts, mugs, stickers and his trademark “Make America Great Again” hats ($1.3 million total) than he did on payroll ($384,000), field consulting ($375,000) and ballot access consulting ($106,000) combined.

In fact, Trump appeared to reduce his spending on payroll for the second month in a row, perhaps as a result of his campaign’s decision to let go of staffers after the contests in the states in which they had been working.