Biden campaign and Democrats raise $42m in January ‘driven by grassroots’

The Biden campaign and the Democratic Party raised more $42m in January in a fundraising haul “driven by” grassroots efforts, officials said.

The Democrats now have $130m in cash on hand as the general election season is set to be one of the longest in recent memory.

Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement that “January’s fundraising haul – driven by a powerhouse grassroots fundraising program that continues to grow month by month – is an indisputable show of strength to start the election year”.

The campaign claimed to have raised almost $278m since April last year, saying that its $130m cash on hand was the “highest total of any democratic candidate in history”. The president’s re-election campaign also noted that January was its strongest month for grassroots fundraising.

“While Team Biden-Harris continues to build on its fundraising machine, Republicans are divided – either spending money fighting Donald Trump, or spending money in support of Donald Trump’s extreme and losing agenda,” Ms Rodriguez said. “Either way, judging from their weak fundraising, they’re already paying the political price. In an election that will determine the fate of our democracy and our freedoms, President Biden’s campaign is using its resources to build a winning operation that will meet voters where they are about the stakes of this election.”

The reported fundraising totals include money donated to the Biden campaign, the Democratic National Committee and their joint committees.

President Joe Biden is heading to California on Tuesday to attend fundraisers in San Francisco and Los Angeles before heading back to Washington on Thursday.

The campaign fundraising numbers come amid an overhaul of the president’s