Hillary Clinton's campaign cash vastly outstrips Donald Trump's as US election nears
Hillary Clinton entered the final presidential election push with a huge cash advantage over rival Donald Trump.
Clinton's campaign committee had about $62 million on hand as of Oct. 20, nearly four times the $16 million Trump had, according to Federal Election Commission data released Thursday night. Adding in joint fundraising committees with the Democratic Party, pro-Clinton efforts had more than $150 million available.
Trump's campaign and joint fundraising committees with the Republican Party had nearly $68 million combined.
Clinton's campaign reported total receipts of $52.8 million from Oct. 1 to Oct. 19, compared to $30.5 million for Trump's campaign.
Those figures come as Trump tries to dig out of a polling hole in some key states he may need to win to claim the White House. Nearly all recent surveys show Clinton leading nationally, while polling in most swing states shows a Clinton advantage.
Trump's campaign spent $49.3 million from Oct. 1 to Oct. 19, nearly as much as Clinton's $50.1 million, after getting heavily outspent throughout much of the general election.
Clinton kept shelling out more than Trump in some key areas, such as payroll, where she spent $1.7 million to Trump's $500,000. Clinton's largest expense category was more than $30 million in media buys. Trump spent more than $33 million of his total on "placed media" and "digital consulting/online advertising."
Trump has repeatedly claimed he will have personally given $100 million to his campaign by Election Day. However, he gave just over $30,000 in the first few weeks of October, bringing his total contributions to a little more than $56 million for the cycle.
But more personal funding may come in the future. In a fundraising email sent Thursday, Trump pledged to match campaign donations until the end of the month with triple the amount given.
Trump endured a brutal early October, as a leaked 2005 video of him bragging about groping women without consent set off a new feud with Republican Party and prompted several women to come forward with assault allegations against the GOP candidate. He has vehemently denied those accusations.