Trump, GOP stockpile US$1 billion in cash ahead of US midterms

[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump’s super political action committee (PAC) raised US$35.6 million in March, part of a US$1 billion war chest he and his party have amassed as they try to defy history by hanging onto congressional Republican majorities in an increasingly difficult midterm election environment.

Billionaire Diane Hendricks, a longtime Republican donor who made a speech at the GOP’s 2024 convention, accounted for most of that total, giving US$25 million, according to a Maga disclosure with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz each donated US$3 million.

The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, a California-based tribal organisation, gave US$2 million. A subsidiary of prison operator GEO Group, a federal contractor whose clients include Immigration and Customs Enforcement, gave US$1 million, according to the FEC filing released on Monday (Apr 20).

The flood of cash comes as polls show Trump’s 2024 coalition fraying. While the party out of power in Washington historically flips seats in the House, Democrats increasingly see a path to taking the Senate, as well. The Cook Political Report this month shifted four Senate seats towards Democrats, and their candidates in three of those races are outraising their Republican rivals by wide margins.

Despite the significant stockpile, Maga’s spending has been limited so far. It injected US$1.7 million into a special House election in Tennessee last year to shore up Matt Van Epps’ candidacy in what has long been a solid-Republican district. It spent just US$17,900 in 2026, backing Clay Fuller in a crowded Georgia race to fill the seat of former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Fuller won the run-off in April.

The limited spending by Maga so far raises questions about how willing Trump will be to spend his cash if he sees Republicans as unlikely to maintain their majorities. The super PAC is not obliged to spend all its money. If it hangs onto its cash, it could donate it to non-profits, including Trump’s presidential library, and other groups that promote the president’s legacy and agenda.

The Republican party committees and its allied House and Senate super PACs, along with Trump-affiliated groups and the Maga super PAC, built a huge stockpile that stands at US$1 billion at the end of the first quarter, giving them a wide lead over Democrats’ equivalent groups, which have US$261 million. That figure does not account for the US$18 million in debt that the Democratic National Committee, which has just US$14 million in the bank, has incurred.

Since the resounding Democratic losses in 2024, some top donors have been loathe to open their wallets again, with many frustrated after investing heavily in the failed effort to elect Kamala Harris president.

While the GOP has an advantage in cash, much of it amassed in super PACs that cannot directly coordinate advertising with campaigns, Democratic candidates are raising more collectively than Republicans, FEC data show. ActBlue raised US$568 million in the first quarter, a record amount for the Democratic party’s small-dollar donor machine.

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Some US$550 million, more than half of the US$1 billion in the GOP’s coffers, are held by Trump’s leadership PACs, super PAC, joint fundraising committees and the Republican National Committee, which accounts for US$117 million of the total. Trump’s super PAC, with US$348 million cash on hand, has the biggest bank balance.

Though Trump has relied much more on big donors ahead of the midterms, with just eight donors accounting for his super PAC’s haul in March, he continues to raise money from his loyal base of more modest contributors. Trump’s entity that focuses on small-dollar donors raised US$11.7 million in the first quarter of 2026. BLOOMBERG