President Biden’s reelection campaign raised a record $10 million in the 24 hours following his State of the Union address on Thursday, the campaign said Sunday.
The address offered Biden a rare opportunity to address the American people as he seeks to boost his abysmal 39.2 percent approval rating ahead of the November election. Biden’s aides have long preferred to hide the president away, lest he make public gaffes. Still, Americans’ concern over the president’s age is at an all-time high after special counsel Robert Hur’s report last month described the 81-year-old president as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and suggested he could not recall when his son Beau had died, even within several years.
The president devoted himself to changing that perception by raising his voice and lashing out at Republicans throughout his campaign-style speech.
Afterwards, the campaign says it received 116,000 donations from 113,000 contributors, as NBC News first reported.
“Ten million dollars in 24 hours. To quote the boss, that’s a BFD,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement, referring to then-vice president Biden’s comments celebrating the passage of Obamacare in 2010, which were caught on a hot-mic.
“We thank our grassroots supporters who are motivated more than ever to reelect President Biden and Vice President Harris,” the campaign manager added. “The President’s State of the Union address reminded so many of our supporters who is fighting for them, and the stakes of this election for our freedoms, our rights, and our democracy.”
Chavez Rodriguez went on to take a shot at Trump saying, “We send our condolences to the other guy and his flailing, poor campaign. Turns out attacking women’s rights, cutting taxes for the rich, and attacking American democracy isn’t exactly a winning message.”
Even before the latest haul, Biden’s campaign had a cash advantage over former president Donald Trump; Biden’s campaign had $56 million on hand at the end of January and the Democratic National Committee had $24 million.
Trump, meanwhile, had $30 million, while the Republican National Committee had $9 million. And the legal bills keep piling up for Trump: His PAC spent nearly $3 million fighting his various legal challenges in January alone, on top of the $50 million it spent last year.
The Biden campaign released a new ad touting his alleged accomplishments since taking office. The ad is the first in a $30-million ad blitz that will focus on key battleground states.
“Look, I’m not a young guy. That’s no secret,” the 81-year-old president says in the ad. “But here’s the deal. I understand how to get things done for the American people. I led the country through the Covid crisis. Today, we have the strongest economy in the world.”
The Trump campaign hit back with its own ad, “Not A Young Guy.”