Jeb Bush and allies amass $114 million for White House campaign

Fredreka Schouten | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Republican Jeb Bush and his allies have amassed more than $114 million to advance his presidential bid, leaping past all his rivals in the 2016 White House contest.

Bush, who formally entered the race last month, raised $11.4 million in a little over two weeks, his campaign announced Thursday. He pulled in campaign money at the rate of $710,000 a day.

Right to Rise USA, pro-Bush a super PAC that can collect donations of any size, raised $103 million from January to June, its treasurer Charlie Spies said.

"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," Spies said in a statement.

The announcements came as Bush gathered with his top donors at his family's compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.

The amount collected by Right to Rise in just six months underscores the unprecedented amounts of campaign money that will flow into the 2016 race. It took two years for a super PAC backing the GOP's 2012 nominee Mitt Romney to raise its final total of $153.6 million.

Spies said Right to Rise had collected money from 9,900 donors — most of whom contributed $25,000 or less — and entered July with $98 million in cash available for the GOP's crowded primary battle.

Allies of most major presidential contenders have launched super PACs and other outside organizations that are not subject to the strict contribution limits candidates face. Final numbers still are rolling in, but no one comes close to Bush's enormous haul.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and a clutch of super PACs supporting his bid for the Republican nomination have raised some $51 million. Two outside groups backing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's campaign have said they collected more than $31 million.

Among Democrats, the party's front-runner Hillary Clinton has raised the most, pulling in $45 million since April. Officials with three pro-Clinton super PACs have said they raised an additional $23 million to support her bid.

Bush spent much of 2015 securing donations for the super PAC before officially declaring his candidacy — a tactic criticized by campaign-finance watchdogs who accuse Bush of flouting federal rules that prohibit candidates from coordinating their activities with outside groups.

Robert Weissman, president of the left-leaning group Public Citizen, said Bush's use of the super PAC "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."

Allies of Bush maintain they are complying with the rules.

Bush, a former two-term Florida governor and the son and brother of two former presidents, moved quickly this year to secure the support of the GOP's top donors. Woody Johnson, the owner of the NFL's New York Jets and Romney's top 2012 fundraiser, serves as Bush's finance chairman.

Jack Oliver, a lobbying firm founder who oversaw fundraising efforts during President W. Bush's campaigns, is national finance co-chairman of Jeb Bush's 2016 effort.

In a statement Thursday, Johnson said: "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."