Trump finally starts raising some money in Maine

Donald Trump’s Maine fundraising jumped about 810 percent in June, compared with a rather slow May.

That’s a striking increase, made less impressive by the fact that he’s still raised less here than the senator and primary challenger he insulted as “Little Marco,” who dropped out in March.

At the state level, Trump raised one-fifth the amount of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s campaign haul of $100,000 in June.

Those totals reflect only itemized donations, which campaigns break out by ZIP code for donors giving, or on track to give, more than $200.

Nationally, Trump raised about as much as Clinton’s campaign in June, but that leaves catching up to do. He had less than half the cash on hand of the Clinton campaign through June.

The surge in fundraising in Maine and nationally reflects the first major boost in momentum for Trump, who ran a pretty cheap and unconventional campaign to secure officially his party’s nomination during the Republican National Convention this week.

Watch bangordailynews.com this evening for live coverage of Trump’s speech at #RNCinCLE.

Clinton has far outdone Trump’s overall fundraising in Maine, netting more than $600,000 in itemized donations to Trump’s $27,401. Put another way, Trump raised 75 percent of his total so far in June, vastly increasing the geographic footprint of his fundraising as well.

On the whole, both nominees are still far behind other candidates since out of the race, revealing strong preferences in Maine for candidates who won’t be on the ballot.

Through June, Clinton’s $600,000 still trailed Bernie Sanders’ more than $810,000. On the Republican side, Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz still led the field. Trump was also still behind Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio.

Darren Fishell

About Darren Fishell

Darren is a Portland-based reporter for the Bangor Daily News writing about the Maine economy and business. He's interested in putting economic data in context and finding the stories behind the numbers.