President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign says it has raised as much as $27 million since his poor debate performance against former President Trump.
From the day of the debate through Friday night, the Biden-Harris campaign told Fox News it had raised $27 million.
The updated numbers come after the campaign said on Friday it raised $14 million on debate day and the morning after the debate “which shows the strength of our grassroots support.”
The campaign also noted on Friday that Thursday night from 11pm to 12pm – the first hour after the debate – was the best hour for fundraising since the campaign launched in April 2023.
Biden aims to change negative narrative after heated debate with Trump
President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign says it has raised $27 million since his poor debate performance against former President Trump. (Mandelyan/AFP)
Biden’s campaign on Thursday sought to address Democratic concerns about his mental fitness to serve as president following a disastrous confrontation with Trump in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Obviously, I know I’m not a young man,” Biden, 81, the oldest president in U.S. history, told cheering supporters at a rally in the key battleground state of North Carolina on Friday afternoon. .
“Folks, I don’t walk as easily as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to,” Biden admitted. “But I know what I know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know, as millions of Americans know, When you get knocked down, you get back up.
President points to his 2024 Rematch with Trump, “I would not run again if I didn’t believe wholeheartedly that I could do this job,” he stressed.
Biden struggled during parts of the debate, his voice cracking and his answers rambling. However, some political analysts noted that the president’s answers became more pointed as the debate progressed.
Heritage Foundation works on election legal challenges as Biden withdraws from DNC nomination
President Biden attends the CNN presidential debate on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Andrew Harnick)
Biden’s uneven and sometimes stagnant performance dominated the vast majority of the debate headlines and prompted a new round of calls from political pundits, publications and some Democrats for the president to resign as the party’s standard-bearer. .
Top Biden allies have pushed back against such comments, defending the president and accusing Trump of “lying” throughout the debate.
Two Democratic sources confirmed to Fox News that top Biden campaign officials gathered privately on Friday at a previously scheduled meeting with top party donors to try to calm concerns and fears.
“Biden’s grassroots fundraising record from the day of the debate is critical. It helps calm criticism of Biden’s performance,” Maria Cardona, a senior political strategist and member of the Democratic National Committee, told Fox News.
Cardona, a major Biden supporter, said the focus on the fundraising “reminds Democrats of their passion for the president and the urgency of ensuring that liar and criminal Donald Trump does not get anywhere near the Oval Office.”
Another Democratic strategist and presidential campaign veteran said the Biden team’s focus on fundraising “is their best and maybe the only card they can play.”
Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes was unimpressed with Biden’s fundraising efforts.
President Biden and former President Trump debate Thursday night in Atlanta, Georgia. (Getty Images)
“As of last week, the Biden campaign has spent $100 million on cable, TV and radio. They’re spending the money on a bloated organization. However, President Trump’s lead has widened in battleground states , and now we’re seeing local polling and enthusiasm for the Republican nominee in Virginia and Minnesota for the first time in many election cycles,” Hughes told Fox News.
Click here to get the Fox News app
The Trump campaign likes the post-debate narrative and doesn’t feel the need to immediately highlight its fundraising, but told Fox News on Friday afternoon that it raised $8 million on the day of the debate.
