Republican convention host committee brings in massive $85M fundraising haul

Republican convention organizers raised more than $85 million for the Milwaukee event that will nominate Donald Trump for president next week.

The convention host committee said in a statement that its total haul represents “a record amount raised by any host committee for a Republican convention in history.” The committee's internal goal was $68 million.

“The outpouring of support for this convention has been bigger than I ever imagined,” Reince Priebus, chair of the MKE 2024 Host Committee, said in the same statement.

He credited local organizations in Wisconsin as having an “integral role” in supporting the fundraising efforts “because they know that this convention is a great way to put Milwaukee on the map.”

The host committee is organized as a nonpartisan nonprofit — designed to pay for transportation, venues and other associated event expenses — which means it does not have to publicly disclose its donors.

Previous reporting notes that Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual and Forest County Potawatomi, which operates a hotel and casino, have donated.

The Republicans’ fundraising news follows Democrats announcing their host committee is on track to raise between $80 million and $100 million for the four-day convention it will host in Chicago next month.

But Democrats are starting to raise alarms about their own candidate fundraising. Campaign donations have started to dry up after President Joe Biden fumbled his debate with Trump and the party's donors are more broadly starting to voice concerns about the viability of the presidential ticket.

On Wednesday, actor George Clooney, who has donated to Biden’s campaign, said he wants the president to step aside so another candidate can run at the top of the Democratic ticket.

But Republicans, after months of a fundraising deficit against Democrats, are starting to see donor enthusiasm return. Even before the debate and in spite of Trump’s criminal conviction on hush money charges, the Trump campaign was surpassing Biden in fundraising.