It’s put up or shut up time for presidential contenders.
Thursday is the deadline for campaigns to file detailed financial reports telling the world how much they raised over the summer. The eye-popping stats are how many millions of dollars the candidates earned, but a second number may be more telling to judge the future of the campaigns: cash on hand, or the amount that each White House hopeful has right now to spend on TV advertisements and field organizing.
It’s an especially important figure for Republicans, as the top campaigns look to argue they are built for the long haul, to outlast candidates like Donald Trump. Candidates with more money in the bank are potentially better positioned, should the front-runner lose steam, rather than being forced to drop out early.
The reports are especially important to answer pressing questions facing some top candidates: Has the Jeb Bush fundraising machine slowed during the traditionally tough summer months? Has Carly Fiorina been able to capitalize a pair of top debate performances into a top bank account? And is Trump spending the money to build a professional machine that can turn enthusiasm into votes?
And everyone will be looking at the so-called burn rate – how quickly candidates are spending their cash.
Here’s what we know about the third-quarter reports:
Donald Trump has spent $1.9 million of his own money
Raised: $3.9 million
Cash on hand: $255,000
The billionaire’s campaign said he had spent $1.9 million since he first entered the race — including an additional $100,000 contribution this quarter.
Though Trump makes a point that he isn’t soliciting donations so he can be independent from corrupting influences, about 75,000 donors gave him their money anyway.
“While our original budget was substantially higher than the amount spent, good business practices and even better ideas and policy have made it unnecessary to have spent a larger sum,” Trump said in a statement.
Jeb Bush enters the winter with $10.3 million
Raised: $13.4 million
Cash on hand: $10.3 million
Bush’s haul is large, but given the expectations of what he could accomplish, not jaw-dropping. He does have the largest super PAC in the race to draw upon, but the $10 million in the bank isn’t going to scare anyone away, especially rival Floridian Marco Rubio.
The former Florida governor drew on the fundraising network organized by two former presidents — his father and brother. But Bush’s haul is only slightly more than the amount he raised in just the two weeks he was a candidate in the second quarter, meaning he is likely more touchable over the long term than might have been expected early this year.
35% of Carly Fiorina’s donations came after CNN debate
Raised: $6.8 million
Cash on hand: $5.5 million
Burn rate: 33%
Fiorina earned her way into the second primetime Republican debate and then stood out on a crowded stage. The payoff: Coffers full enough to sustain more of a campaign than she was running before. About 35% of all her donations this quarter over $200 came in the two weeks after the debate.
The Republican businesswoman has long outsourced much of her field program to a pro-Fiorina super PAC, but she may be able to do more voter contact now that she actually has money in the bank. She only spent about $2.2 million during the summer months for a cool 33% burn rate.
Ted Cruz has a ton of money on hand
Raised: $12.2 million
Cash on hand: $13.5 million
Cruz’s campaign said Thursday that it had $13.5 million entering the fall, thanks in part to a fundraising shop that marries big-time bundling with small contributions.
The fundraising success of Cruz, who is known for his strained relationship with business-minded donors, has been one of the more surprising money storylines of 2016. Coming from Texas, Cruz has benefited from its donor-rich megacities, and Cruz easily outraised his competitors for Lone Star State dollars last quarter.
Marco Rubio is running a lean campaign
Raised: $6 million
Cash on hand: $11 million
The Rubio campaign hasn’t yet filed with the Federal Election Commission, but immediately after Bush sent out his figures, Rubio one-upped him.
But the quarter could have been better than it was. His fundraising haul is underwhelming for a candidate as buzzed about as he is, but his campaign says it is running lean and doing more with less money.
60% of Ben Carson’s huge haul came in small chunks
Raised: $20.8 million
Cash on hand: $11.2 million
Burn rate: 69%
The retired neurosurgeon said earlier this month that his campaign planned to post a haul of about $20.8 million, powered by hundreds of thousands of small-dollar donors recruited online. An enormous amount of Carson’s money — 60% — came in donations smaller than $200.
He has not yet filed his report, so it is unclear whether he had to spend a large percentage of money to raise only slightly more — as he did last quarter. His cash on hand figure will be heavily scrutinized.
Rand Paul spends nearly twice what he takes in
Raised: $2.5 million
Cash on hand: $2.1 million
Burn rate: 181%
Rand Paul is hemorrhaging cash: His struggling campaign spent more than $4.5 million in the second quarter, and he isn’t raising the money to keep up with that level of spending.
If he doesn’t either drastically scale back spending or somehow jumpstart his fundraising operation, he won’t be able to campaign for much longer. Expect questions about how long he plans to be in the race to only intensify.
Bobby Jindal is on death watch
Raised: $580,000
Cash on hand: $260,000
Burn rate: 140%
The Louisiana governor has very little money and is bleeding fast.
His campaign thus far has depended heavily on two independent groups backing his bid — one of which is staging his events in Iowa. But there’s only so far super PAC money can legally take a candidate, and his lack of hard dollars should raise questions about how long he can stay in the race.
Jim Gilmore is running for president — barely
Raised: $100,000
Cash on hand: $35,000
Burn rate: 67%
40% of Jim Gilmore’s money came from Jim Gilmore — he self-funded to the tune of $43,000. The longshot presidential candidate then spent almost as much on what was far and away his biggest expense of the campaign: the South Carolina filing fee.
Beyond that expense, there isn’t much evidence in his report that he is running a competitive presidential campaign.
Why did Scott Walker drop out?
Raised: $7.4 million
Cash on hand: $1 million
Burn rate: 87%
Scott Walker’s abrupt departure from the presidential is made all the more unusual by the fact that he had $1 million in the bank when he chose to exit the race. His financial problems do not appear to have been imminent.
He still obviously went over his skis a bit in terms of spending, which is tough to do given his fast rate of fundraising. During his ten weeks as a candidate, Walker collected a healthy $7.4 million.
Buried deep in the report: the names of Alexander and Matthew Walker, the Wisconsin governor’s sons, who appear to have been being paid by the presidential campaign.
Rick Perry had $45,000 when he ended his campaign
Raised: $300,000
Cash on hand: $45,000
Burn rate: 390%
The Texas governor’s fundraising numbers should make clear why he had to drop out of the race in September.
Down to only $45,000 — and with no clear sign that an uptick in cash intake was on the way — Perry clearly was about to confront questions about whether he could pay the bills. His campaign chose to not take on any debt.
His report will surely be unpacked to see whether the campaign wasted too much money in the opening stages. The top expense in the third-quarter: $200,000 to Abstract Communications, the firm run by Perry’s two most senior advisers.