Trump super PAC says it brought in $70 million in May as it outlines path to electoral victory
By Alayna Treene and Steve Contorno, CNN
(CNN) — One of Donald Trump’s leading super PACs told donors it raised nearly $70 million in May and shared plans to spend $100 million this summer in key battleground states, according to a copy of a memo sent Tuesday and obtained by CNN.
Taylor Budowich, the CEO of Make America Great Again, Inc., laid out the PAC’s strategy to boost Trump in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona – all states that the former president narrowly lost in 2020 and that remain competitive four years later.
The document, sent to CNN by a source who received it, serves as a marker for how top Trump allies see his pathway to securing the 270 electoral votes needed to secure victory in November.
The super PAC’s haul – which cannot be independently confirmed until it files federal finance reports covering May – is in addition to the combined $141 million the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee said they raised last month, a massive influx of cash that coincided with the former president’s New York hush money trial and conviction on 34 felony counts.
The memo, which was first reported by The New York Times, argues that the Trump campaign and his allies remain well positioned in the ad wars despite President Joe Biden’s and Democrats’ longstanding financial advantage. Though it has spent far less in many top battlegrounds, MAGA Inc. said it has not had to burn through cash to keep Trump’s voter coalition together – unlike Democrats, who have poured millions into ensuring Black and female voters remain engaged this cycle.
“Their current buy is a sign of tremendous weakness and desperation,” Burdowich wrote. “It’s like if MAGA Inc. launched a massive ad campaign targeting Christian radio … in rural Georgia.”
The memo details how much of the $100 million that the super PAC plans to spend through Labor Day will be aimed at further siphoning Democratic votes away from Black and Hispanic communities, core demographics with whom Trump is faring better this cycle than in previous elections.
It also describes how MAGA Inc. intends to compete for voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona – states viewed as critical to Trump’s path to winning back White House.
In Pennsylvania, where the super PAC has been on air for months hammering Biden’s record and capacity to lead, it intends to remain active through November.
The Keystone State has swung left in the years since 2016, when Trump became the first Republican presidential nominee to carry the state in almost three decades. Biden won it in 2020 and two years later, Democrats won races for governor and Senate over Trump-endorsed candidates by healthy margins.
If signs start pointing toward Trump flipping Pennsylvania, it would intensify the fight over Wisconsin and Michigan – which are also part of Democrats’ so-called blue wall of must-win states – giving the president’s party a very narrow path to holding the White House.
“Winning Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral points is the ball game,” Burdowich said.
In Georgia, MAGA Inc. intends to place a “significant and sustained” media buy through Labor Day. Budowich described the state’s 16 electoral votes as presenting “the best gateway to the White House for President Trump – delivering the targeted 270 electoral votes.” If the Peach State – which Biden surprisingly flipped in 2020 – remains competitive into the fall, that would suggest deeper trouble for Trump.
The-CNN-Wire
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