With the presidential election just months away, Republican candidate Donald Trump is surging among Kentucky campaign donors, pulling in more than $359,625 last month.
His July campaign haul was more than 2 1/2 times that of the $136,926 received by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, according to new data from the Federal Election Commission.
One reason for Trump’s boost: the number of contributions to his campaign increased more than ten-fold over the previous month. His main source of donations to date, about 87 percent, came from Kentuckians giving $200 or less.
While Trump’s increase in funds this past month is due mainly to smaller contributions, he’s shown he can rally some of Kentucky’s bigger donors. Trump pulled in 58 contributions of $2,000 or more in July. Clinton managed only two.
Despite Trump’s summer surge, he still trails far behind Clinton in netting Kentucky’s dollars. Clinton raised more than $921,409 through the end of July, compared to Trump’s $545,940.
Clinton benefits from an early fundraising start. She pulled in tens of thousands of dollars each month in late 2015, whereas Trump had months in which his campaign netted just a few hundred dollars.
In all, Clinton supporters have made 8,871 donations. Trump supporters, meanwhile, have made 3,768 donations.
The Republican candidate’s most recent campaign pull is a far cry from his fundraising totals this spring. In March, his tally from the whole state was a meager $3,556.
Alexandra Kanik contributed to this report. Managing Editor Brendan McCarthy can be reached at bmccarthy@kycir.orgor (502) 814.6541 .