The haul was collected by a super PAC and a traditional PAC bearing Bolton’s name. Bolton raises nearly $2.5 million

John Bolton, who has struggled to be taken seriously as a top-tier prospective 2016 GOP presidential candidate, has been raising money like one.

The former ambassador to the United Nations, who is headed to New Hampshire this week, over the past three months raised nearly $2.5 million into a pair of groups he fronts, according to figures provided to POLITICO.


The third-quarter fundraising haul — which will be detailed in reports to be filed with the Federal Election Commission before a midnight Wednesday deadline – was collected by a super PAC and a traditional PAC bearing Bolton’s name.

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Together, the groups have raked in $6.5 million over the past year, and have allowed Bolton to build a fundraising list and social media presence that could prove valuable in GOP politics — either raising money for other candidates or potentially for his own 2016 run. More immediately, the groups have given Bolton a platform to espouse his hawkish foreign policy views in key presidential states, while supporting — and collecting chits from — ideologically aligned Republican candidates across the country.

“Now more than ever, it is imperative for the American people to seek out and support candidates for office who have the fortitude, leadership and vision to secure America’s leadership through policies at home and action overseas,” Bolton said in a statement provided to POLITICO.

The John Bolton PAC, which raised $716,000 last quarter, has endorsed or donated to the campaigns of 76 House and Senate candidates, with contributions to endorsees totaling $415,000, according to the PAC.

Meanwhile, the John Bolton super PAC, which raised $1.8 million last quarter, has been spending big money on independent advertising campaigns supporting Republican Senate candidates in key battleground races.

A particular focus has been New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation presidential primary election. Bolton’s PAC has endorsed former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown’s Senate campaign there and the House campaigns of Marilinda Garcia and former Rep. Frank Guinta.

Bolton is planning to be in the Granite State on Wednesday and Thursday to stump for Garcia and Guinta, while his super PAC is independently running campaigns supporting Brown and opposing Garcia’s Democratic opponent, Rep. Ann McLane Kuster.