- Joe Biden’s campaign says it has raised $38 million since the debate against Trump more than a week ago.
- The day after the debate, Biden’s team raised $27 million, compared to $8 million for Donald Trump.
- Biden is recovering from a painful debate where he seemed lost next to a rambling Trump.
President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign knows it took a hit in the debate against former President Donald Trump.
But Biden is coming back strong, a campaign spokesman says, boasting $38 million in donations since last Thursday’s debate.
“People are going to joebiden.com and participating because they understand that when you get knocked down, you get back up and keep fighting, and that’s exactly what the president has done,” Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director, told the hosts of MSNBC’s “The Weekend” on Saturday.
The day after the July 27 debate, Biden raised $27 million and Trump raised $8 million, Business Insider reported. While Trump appeared to win the debate, both candidates made gaffes and spoke incoherently.
Tyler added that the influx of donations after the debate was “one of our most successful campaign periods so far” and that Biden maintains he is “the best person to take on Donald Trump.”
“No one is going to fight harder to defeat Donald Trump,” Tyler said of Biden. “He’s the only person who has demonstrated the ability to defeat Donald Trump, given everyone else who’s been tested on both sides of the aisle.”
The Biden campaign plans to spend $50 million on paid advertising in July while knocking on 3 million doors, Tyler said.
Since Biden’s first presidential debate with Trump, the president’s campaign has been rocked by growing calls from fellow Democrats and major donors to convince the American public that Biden is fit to run for a second term or step aside for a new candidate.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia has mobilized his congressional colleagues to call on Biden to withdraw from the race, the Washington Post reported.
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings was one of the first major Democratic donors to call on Biden to end his campaign.
Biden, however, appeared to downplay the severity of his campaign’s difficulties in a recent interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.
The president attributed his debate performance to a “bad night,” dismissed poll numbers that continue to show him trailing Trump and discredited all the rumblings within the Democratic Party about a new nominee.
Biden’s campaign has regularly touted its donation numbers. According to a Politico report, the campaign raised $127 million in June through combined funds from the Democratic National Committee, surpassing the $112 million raised by the Trump campaign that same month.
Spokespeople for the Biden and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
