Biden reelection effort raises $85 million in May, but trails Trump’s massive haul

• President Joe Biden's re-election campaign, allied committees and PACs and the Democratic National Committee say they together raised $85 million in May.
• The figure puts Biden's May haul far short of the $141 million that Donald Trump's campaign, allied groups and the Republican National Committee say they jointly raised.
• Biden's May fundraising marked his second-best month, behind March, and left him with $212 million in the bank.

President Joe Biden's reelection effort and the Democratic National Committee raised a combined $85 million in May, according to exclusive data provided to CNBC by the Biden campaign.

The sum marks the president's second-best month this cycle for fundraising, behind only March.

Still, it trailed significantly behind the $141 million that former President Donald Trump's political operation and the Republican National Committee claim to have raised the same month.

The May fundraising left the Biden campaign and allied groups with $212 million in cash on hand at the end of the month, the data shows, up from $192 million at the end of April. A majority of the May fundraising, the campaign says, came from grassroots donors.

"Our strong and consistent fundraising program grew by millions of people in May, a clear sign of strong and growing enthusiasm for the President and Vice President every single month," Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.

"The money we continue to raise matters, and it's helping the campaign build out an operation that invests in reaching and winning the voters who will decide this election."

The Biden team has been using the funds to build out a massive ground-game across the country, announcing earlier Thursday that it had just hired its 1,000th