Jeb Bush has officially become the $100 million man.

The Republican front-runner’s Right to Rise super PAC, which will take on an unprecedented role in tandem with his presidential campaign, announced on Thursday that it has banked $103 million in the past six months, exceeding its own ambitious goal of $100 million.


The group has $98 million in cash and is unlikely to truly begin spending its massive war chest until the end of the year, according to multiple sources.

The organization made the announcement on Twitter less than an hour after Bush’s campaign, which cannot coordinate with the super PAC, announced it raised $11.4 million over 16 days since Bush announced his bid for the White House.

Both figures underscored Bush’s prowess on the fundraising front — in two weeks, his campaign raised more than some of his rivals have over several months, and the super PAC’s haul is unprecedented in American politics. All told, Bush has been raising an average of more than $640,000 a day for the last six months.

The eye-popping numbers show just how much big-money politics has reshaped modern-day presidential races, in which candidates court a roster of wealthy donors. Bush’s donor list, which draws heavily on family connections made over 50 years in politics, is longer than most: more than 9,900 donors contributed to his super PAC, 500 of whom gave $25,000 or more.

“We are grateful for the overwhelming response from the thousands of donors who have been drawn to Jeb’s optimistic message of conservative renewal and reform,” said Charlie Spies, the attorney for Right to Rise.

The timing also helped Bush break out of his worst 24-hour news cycle in more than a month. The campaign spent much of the past 12 hours scrambling after Bush said late Wednesday that Americans should “work longer hours.” He has since clarified the statement, but Democrats were quick to seize on them and paint Bush as out of touch with the middle class.

Prior to announcing his official campaign, Bush spent nearly six months traversing the country to raise money for his Right to Rise super PAC, amassing a list of several hundred high-dollar contributors.

When word first leaked that the organization’s target was $100 million, it signaled an unprecedented, “shock and awe” approach to presidential campaign fundraising, albeit one that failed to deter other Republicans from jumping into the race.

Still, the Bush machine showed a lot of discipline in its path to hitting the $100 million target.

Bush’s allies sought to manage expectations with public comments and planted news stories downplaying the super PAC’s goal.

And while rival after rival jumped into the race (thereby severing ties between their super PACs and their campaigns), Jeb stayed out, allowing him to continue collecting unlimited contributions for Right to Rise and to embark on an unprecedented strategy of outsourcing more of the responsibilities of his eventual campaign — especially advertising — to the super PAC.

Now that it’s official, Bush’s combined haul is more than double his nearest rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, whose campaign and supporting super PAC brought in a combined $51 million. The super PAC supporting Sen. Marco Rubio has raised $16 million; and Scott Walker, who will officially declare his candidacy on Monday, is expected to have raised around $20 million for his super PAC.

“The important thing is not just raising more money than everyone else but knowing what to do with it,” said Charlie Black, a longtime GOP lobbyist. “Most of [Jeb’s] money is in the super PAC, and Mike Murphy and those guys know what to do with it. It should allow him to run effectively in a whole bunch of states.”

While Bush supporters celebrated Bush’s record haul, campaign finance reform advocates took the opportunity to draw attention to a system that they believe is out of control.

“Jeb Bush has truly taken us into the Wild West era of campaign spending, where existing campaign finance rules are to be mocked, ignored and circumvented with a wink and a nod, and where there is no limit on giving – and presumably no limit on what’s being promised to the donors,” said Robert Weissman, president of the group Public Citizen.

But Bush’s actual campaign, based on its first two weeks, also appears to be a fundraising juggernaut, built on the same vast family political network that pumped the record sum into his super PAC.

“Jeb is encouraged and grateful for the tremendous early support and enthusiasm his candidacy has generated since he launched his campaign,” said New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, Bush’s finance chairman, in a release from the campaign. “We are confident our campaign will have the resources needed to get Jeb’s conservative record, message and vision for the future out to voters across the country.”

Bush, along with adviser Sally Bradshaw and finance director Heather Larrison, are scheduled to convene with dozens of major donors Thursday night and Friday during a retreat at the Bush compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.