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Joe Biden's presidential campaign raised $46.7 million in pivotal month of March WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden raised $46.7 million in March, according to new campaign finance filings, as he was tightening his grip on the Democratic Party's nomination. His campaign spent $32.4 million in March, ending the month with $26.3 million banked away, Biden's latest report to the Federal Election Commission shows. The total is a dramatic increase from Biden's fundraising in recent months — he raised $8.9 million in January and $18.1 million in February. In March, Biden began to widen his lead in the Democratic presidential nominating fight by scoring big victories on Super Tuesday and in contests the subsequent weeks before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered much of American life and caused many states to delay their nominating contests. Biden pointed to the difficulties of campaigning (and living life) during coronavirus in a Monday-night message to supporters. But he also thanked those supporters for helping him turn the tide after poor showings in the early weeks of voting and spoke of his focus on making President Trump a "one-term president." "It was your support which has made us the presumptive nominee of our party. That is something no one was predicting just a little over a month ago. Many of the so-called experts had declared our campaign over. Not you. You and so many others lifted us up on your shoulders, generated record levels of turnout, and propelled us in state after state to a historic comeback victory," he said. "Now I am especially proud to say that every one of our primary opponents has endorsed our campaign. We are leading a unified Democratic party to take on Donald Trump." While the big fundraising quarter shows Biden's ability to galvanize Democratic dollars behind him, Biden and the Democratic National Committee trail the joint Republican effort aimed at reelecting Trump by a significant margin. When the two joint fundraising committees affiliated with Trump's reelection effort are added in, the full Republican effort closed March with about $244 million in cash on hand, while the DNC and the Biden campaign had about $57 million (when the DNC's $5 million in debt is subtracted). As the incumbent, Trump has had the luxury over the past three years of raising big money through joint fundraising committees, which allow donors to spread out money across a handful of committees involved in a unified effort. Biden will have that luxury as well, without Trump's head start. That said, Biden's campaign raised more than three times that of the Trump campaign in March (Trump's campaign raised $13.6 million last month). And through February, the Democratic presidential candidates combined this cycle raised $768 million through February, outraising the combined effort of the Trump campaign and the RNC by more than $300 million over the same time period. Share this -







Mike Bloomberg spent over $1 billion on presidential campaign, new FEC reports show WASHINGTON — New FEC reports released Monday reveal that former 2020 candidate Mike Bloomberg spent over $1 billion on his brief presidential bid. The reports show that he spent a total of $1,051,783,859.43 through March of this year. Bloomberg, one of the richest men in the world, didn't accept individual contributions during his bid and instead self-funded his campaign. According to Advertising Analytics, Bloomberg spent $453 million on television ads and at least $82 million on digital ads. He also invested heavily in polling and building up a large campaign of over 500 staffers across the country. Mike Bloomberg speaks during a campaign rally at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., on March 3, 2020. Matias J. Ocner / AP file Late last month, Bloomberg announced he’d pour $18 million into the Democratic National Committee, transferring the funds from his campaign to boost the party apparatus instead of creating his own super PAC. The former New York City mayor's campaign now faces a potential class action lawsuit for allegedly promising jobs through November to over one thousand campaign staffers and then laying them off after the campaign was suspended. The staffers stopped receiving paychecks in the first week of April, and will stop receiving health care benefits at the end of the month. Bloomberg announced his candidacy in November and dropped out of the race on March 4 after a poor performance on Super Tuesday. The billionaire entrepreneur’s only electoral victory was in American Samoa. Share this -







GOP Super PAC pledges $100,000 to support Rep. Steve King's primary challenger WASHINGTON — The GOP Super PAC, Defending Main Street, announced that it will spend $100,000 to support the Republican state legislator challenging Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, in the fourth district congressional primary. The group said Monday it would invest in direct mail, phone calls, and social media advertising aimed at boosting state Senator Randy Feenstra over King, who has been thrown off all congressional committees after making racist comments in an interview. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, listens to a question during a news conference on Aug. 23, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall / AP file “Now more than ever, the people of Iowa’s 4th District need a voice in Washington, D.C.,” Defending Main Street Treasurer, Sarah Chamberlain, said in a statement. “The small businesses, farmers, and families of this district are being excluded from eminently crucial decision-making amid the pandemic. It is time to restore the level of comprehensive representation these Iowans deserve," she added. King was stripped of his committee assignments by House Republicans last year after they repeatedly condemned his remarks. The final straw for those House Republicans were comments last January about white nationalism. King had asked in a New York Times interview: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?” In a statement shortly after, King told NBC News: "I reject white nationalism. I reject white supremacy. It's not part of any of my ideology. I reject anyone who carries that ideology." Feenstra has argued that King can’t “defend President Trump” thanks to his hindered position in Congress. And he has run ads touting his pro-life credentials, support for Trump’s border wall, and ability to “deliver” for the area in the state Senate. Feenstra has raised $844,000 and had $416,000 in his bank account at the end of March. King has raised $301,000 and had $27,000 in his bank account through March. The winner of that primary — which is now scheduled for June 2 — will likely face J.D. Scholten, the Democrat who was just 3 percentage points away from beating King in 2018. Defending Main Street is a Super PAC aimed at supporting what it calls "governing Republicans." It's aligned with the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group that endorsed Feenstra earlier this year. Share this -







Prominent environmental group endorses Joe Biden WASHINGTON — Former vice president Joe Biden embraced an endorsement from a prominent environmental advocacy group, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), Monday and suggested that he’s open to building on his climate plan with environmental leaders and organizations. The LCV, which aims to elect pro-environmental candidates nationwide, announced its formal support for the apparent Democratic nominee in a statement Monday morning. That statement applauded Biden’s proposed climate plan and the candidate’s record of protecting the environment and addressing the climate crisis. League of Conservation Voters activists attend a news conference outside the Capitol in 2017 to oppose legislation that would open the Alaskan wilderness to oil drilling. Win McNamee / Getty Images file “We are proud to endorse Joe Biden to be the next president of the United States,” LCV Action Fund Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, Tiernan Sittenfeld, stated. “We cannot afford the cost of inaction or another four years of a Trump presidency.” Responding to the endorsement, the Biden campaign said in its own statement Monday that it’s committed to working with the LCV on expanding its current climate policy. “I have asked my campaign to commence a process to meaningfully engage with more voices from the climate movement,” Biden said. Together, his campaign along with leaders and organizations like the LCV will “collaborate on additional policies in areas ranging from environmental justice to new, concrete goals we can achieve within a decade, to more investments in a clean energy economy.” Biden stressed that climate change is an important issue this election cycle, especially for younger voters — a more progressive demographic that his Democratic primary opponent, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, had more success with during the nominating fight — and that it will be a top priority under his leadership if elected president. “In the months ahead, expanding this plan will be one of my key objectives,” Biden said. “I know this is an issue that resonates with many, including young people and those who have seen floods, fires, and drought destroy lives and livelihoods.” Biden released his original climate agenda last June. His "Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice" includes a push for the United States to reenter the Paris Climate Agreement, to achieve net-zero emissions before 2050, to expand clean jobs and to take other actions to mitigate climate change. Some progressive environmental groups, like the Sunrise Movement, have criticized Biden's plans for not going far enough, and have instead embraced more progressive candidates like Sanders. In the LCV’s endorsement of the candidate, the group slammed President Trump for being an anti-environmental president and said that Biden will restore the U.S.’s status as a global environmental leader. “Since day one, Donald Trump has threatened our planet and risked the health of our communities — especially communities of color and low-wealth communities — undermining the unprecedented climate legacy of the Obama-Biden administration,” Carol Browner, LCV Board Chair and former Clinton EPA Administrator, said in the statement. “We are all in to help elect Joe Biden,” she added. The LCV has invested $14 million in a direct-mail campaign and online advertising aimed at Trump in several swing states including Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Share this -







Biden campaign launches general election ad in battleground states WASHINGTON — With sights set on the general election, former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign is launching its first set of targeted digital ads in battleground states that focus on President Trump's lack of preparation in handling coronavirus. The ad, "Unprepared" will play in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. All of the states will see three versions of the ad, an almost two-minute, 15-second and 6-second version, on Facebook and Instagram. "Unprepared"'s longest version begins with a narrator accusing Trump of failing to preemptively prepare the country for a pandemic. The ad goes on to say that Trump's campaign and its allies are instead launching “negative attacks against Joe Biden to hide the truth.” Trump and Biden, and respected super PACs, have been attacking each other on China. The Trump campaign launched its own digital ad last week attacking Biden's record on China — suggesting he was sympathetic to China. While Priorities USA, a super PAC supporting Biden, has paid for ads attacking the president's coronavirus response. China wants Sleepy Joe sooo badly. They want all of those billions of dollars that they have been paying to the U.S. back, and much more. Joe is an easy mark, their DREAM CANDIDATE! https://t.co/vmvCr4SkQq — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2020 This ad continues that back-and-forth by comparing Biden and Trump’s positions on China in their own words. The ad attempts to remind voters that the former vice president said he would've sent officials to China to investigate the virus, while Trump did not. “Donald Trump left this country unprepared and unprotected for the worst economic and public health crisis in our lifetime and now we’re paying the price. All the negative ads in the world can’t change the truth,” the ad concludes. This ad marks the Biden campaign's first major investment in targeted ads in states they hope to pick up in the 2020 general election. Aside from Facebook and Instagram, the campaign will also be running the ad in key media markets in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on YouTube to counteract the president's online ad running there. Share this -







Biden campaign launches new video attacking Trump on coronavirus response WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign is mounting a new offensive against President Trump and his allies over the administration's response to the coronavirus. The new digital campaign argues that Trump “was more worried about protecting his trade deal with China than he was about the virus that had already come to America." In a new digital video, first shown to NBC News, Biden says, "The uncomfortable truth is that this president left America exposed and vulnerable to this pandemic. He ignored the warnings of health experts and intelligence agencies, and put his trust in China’s leaders instead. And now, we're all paying the price,” Biden says in a new digital video first previewed to NBC News. Biden also points Trump ending the Obama administration's "PREDICT" program and reducing the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention's footprint in China as two specific actions that left the U.S. less ready both to identify the health crisis at an early stage, and address it once it had spread. “When the coronavirus started to spread, the CDC wanted to get into China to get information that could save American lives. China said no. And President Trump refused to insist on access,” Biden said. The former vice president ended the video by promising to protect the American people during potential future outbreaks if he's elected president — in recent days Biden has said he would re-establish the Obama-era global health pandemic office and elevate it to a cabinet-level position. The Biden team's new video reflects how China has become an early flashpoint between Trump and Biden. While both men have limited their attacks against each other press conferences or virtual events, super PACs support both candidates have launched China-focused attacks in recent weeks. America First Action, a super PAC supporting the president, released two new ads on Friday in key battleground states suggesting Biden has been sympathetic toward China throughout his career. And Priorities USA, a group supporting Biden, launched a weeks-long effort of TV ads attacking the president's coronavirus response. The Biden campaign is expected to continue focusing their attacks against Trump’s responsiveness to coronavirus on China on Friday. Biden's foreign policy senior adviser Tony Blinken and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, whose state will be holding a mail-in-ballot primary this month, will be holding a "Trump's Failure to Stand Up to China" press call. Share this -







GOP super PAC releases new ads targeting Biden on China WASHINGTON — Allies of President Trump are finally responding to Democratic super PAC ads criticizing the president's coronavirus response — with a new set of ads attacking former Vice President Joe Biden. As part of its multi-million ad buy in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the pro-Trump super PAC, America First Action, has released two new TV ads attacking comments Biden has made about China, according to Advertising Analytics. One of the ads, entitled "Bad Folks", focuses on Biden saying China is "not bad folks" and then flashes to Biden and China's President Xi Jinping together when Biden was vice president. Biden has mentioned on several occasions throughout the campaign that he got to know Xi during his time in the White House when former President Barack Obama sent Biden to China to meet with Xi. The second ad, "40 Years", also paints Biden as sympathetic toward China. The ad points to a 2011 speech in which Biden said that "a rising China is a positive development". The ad also says that Biden wrongfully admonished Trump's decision to stop travel from China to the U.S. due to the coronavirus pandemic. Of course, though, these ads left unsaid the president's own positive words about China — especially during the pandemic. On a tweet on Jan. 24, Trump tweeted his thanks to Xi for his "efforts and transparency." China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2020 Share this -







Biden gets backing from organizing and minority-focused groups WASHINGTON — Following a week of endorsements from his one-time opponents as well as former President Barack Obama, Joe Biden is racking up more support from key Democratic mobilization groups. Since becoming the apparent nominee, Biden has been accumulating more support from a variety of Democratic groups, including Let America Vote (LAV), which endorsed him Thursday. Another group that endorsed Biden Thursday, End Citizens United had gone after Biden during the primary when the former vice president signaled he wouldn't disown a super PAC, namely the Unite the Country PAC, from supporting his campaign. While Biden was the first 2020 Democratic candidate to not say no to help from an outside organization, many of his rivals would eventually also tacitly agree to PAC support. ECU and LAV President Tiffany Muller said the groups are throwing their support behind Biden now because “he’ll work to get big money out of our politics and more Americans participating in our democracy.” Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally in Kansas City, Mo., on March 7, 2020. Charlie Riedel / AP file Biden responded to the endorsements with saying he'll work with the groups to reform the campaign finance and electoral systems. “Our Constitution doesn’t begin with the phrase, 'We the Democrats' or 'We the Republicans.' And it certainly doesn’t begin with the phrase, 'We the Donors.' It begins with ‘We the People.’ Today, our campaign finance and electoral systems are broken. I’m excited to work with End Citizens United and Let America Vote to fix this once and for all,” Biden said. Biden added that voting groups like LAV are essential during the coronavirus pandemic to advocate for safe vote-by-mail or safe in-person voting systems ahead of the November election. Voto Latino, a grassroots group that focuses on Latino voters, also announced Thursday they were backing Biden. This is the first time the organization has endorsed a presidential candidate since its founding in 2004. Emgage PAC, an outside group that says it represents Muslim American interests, also endorsed Biden — the group formerly backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The groups' endorsements signal more Democratic coalescing around Biden's campaign, now that he is the party's apparent nominee and has gotten the backing of almost all his former primary opponents. CORRECTION (April 17, 2020, 9:10 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated who End Citizens United and Let America Vote supported in the Democratic presidential primary. The groups endorsed Joe Biden on Thursday; they had not previously endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Share this -





