2024

It's hard to take Kennedy seriously. He may be convinced he would be a fabulous president, but I don't see any heavy interest in him. I think he lost the 'credibility' sphere many years earlier.

“Covid-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. Covid-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,” Mr. Kennedy said at a private gathering in New York that was captured on videotape by The New York Post. “Covid-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”

Florida governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has reduced campaign staff as his campaign has struggled to meet fundraising goals.

Fewer than 10 staffers were laid off, according to an anonymous staffer, reported Politico. The staffers were involved in event planning and may be picked up by the pro-DeSantis super Pac Never Back Down. Two senior campaign advisers, Dave Abrams and Tucker Obenshain, left the campaign this past week to assist a pro-DeSantis nonprofit group.

Here are the winners and losers from the second fundraising quarter of 2023:

Winners
Joe Biden
President Biden’s fundraising numbers are more than double that of former President Trump and any other candidate, giving him a majorly successful second quarter and first few months of his reelection bid.

Biden’s reelection campaign raised $72 million in the second quarter, an impressive total for a candidate whose polls have shown voters do not want him to run for reelection. The campaign said Biden also has $77 million in cash on hand, which it said was the most “amassed by a Democrat at any comparable point in history.” ...

Donald Trump
Former President Trump is easily the biggest GOP winner in the fundraising quarter and the primary race so far.

His campaign and super PAC raked in more than $35 million during the second quarter, significantly more overall than any other Republican candidate. That is about double what his joint fundraising committee, made up of his campaign and super PAC, raised during the first quarter.
...

Democrats in competitive Senate races
Many Democrats running in what are expected to be competitive Senate races brought in millions of dollars in donations this quarter.

The party is facing a steep 2024 Senate election map that gives more pickup opportunities to Republicans than Democrats as the GOP will try to retake the upper chamber.

Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) are likely two of the most significant targets for the GOP, with both representing states that voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. But Tester raised $5 million, his best second-quarter fundraising total ever in a nonelection year, and Brown brought in the same.

Other incumbent Democrats running for reelection in battleground states raised millions....

Ron DeSantis
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis raised an impressive $20 million for his campaign while only formally being a candidate for six weeks before the second quarter ended. His campaign said that is the largest filing for a non-incumbent Republican candidate in the first quarter of their candidacy in more than a decade.

The super PAC supporting DeSantis, Never Back Down, also told Fox News it raised $130 million since the committee launched in March.

DeSantis is the only GOP presidential candidate whose fundraising keeps close to Trump’s, but some parts of his fundraising numbers and recent polling could give him reasons to be concerned. ...

Joe Manchin
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has not officially decided whether he will run for a third term in the Senate, but he brought in more than either of his two potential major GOP opponents for the seat, raising $1.3 million in quarter two.
...
Manchin has also refused to rule out running as a third-party candidate for president, a possibility that has concerned some Democrats who would view it as a spoiler for Biden’s reelection chances. He has signaled he will decide about running for reelection by the end of the year.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The Democratic challenger to Biden and anti-vaccine activist’s fundraising total was not close to Biden’s, but he raked in $6.3 million, a notable achievement for a candidate widely seen as a long shot to win the nomination.

Losers:
Other 2024 GOP candidates
While Trump and DeSantis had widely successful quarters, many of the other candidates running for the GOP nomination had comparatively disappointing fundraising totals.

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has been among the higher-performing candidates in polls, raised $7.3 million for her campaign, much lower than Trump and DeSantis. ...

Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) campaign brought in less, $6.1 million. The super PAC supporting him brought in $19.28 million. ...

Former Vice President Mike Pence brought in a modest $1.2 million for his campaign in its first three weeks, while the super PAC supporting him raised $2.6 million.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who has polled near the bottom of the pack, raised $11.7 million in the three weeks of his campaign before the end of the second quarter, but more than $10 million of that was a loan from his own money.

Marianne Williamson
While Kennedy has outperformed expectations in his primary challenge to Biden, the other notable Democratic challenger has struggled for months to gain traction and experienced internal chaos in her campaign.

Politico reported Thursday that Williamson told campaign volunteers in a Zoom call she does not have the funds she needs to continue the campaign at its current trend and desperately needs additional financial support. ...