Mike Pence’s GOP debate spot in jeopardy after lackluster fundraising

Former Vice President Mike Pence was among several 2024 Republican presidential candidates who released lackluster second-quarter fundraising reports on Friday raising doubts about their ability to qualify for the first primary debate next month. 

Pence has raised a mere $1.2 million for his presidential campaign in the three weeks since launching his White House bid, according to reports. 

Combined with the roughly $2.6 million reportedly raised by Committed to America, a super PAC aligned with the former vice president, Pence’s second quarter totals amount to just $3.8 million, far less than his top opponents. 

Pence has also failed to receive donations from 40,000 individual donors, an aide told the New York Times on Friday, meaning he has not yet reached the threshold required by the Republican National Committee to make the debate stage on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee. 

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson also announced Friday that across all entities his campaign has only been able to raise $743,065, and just over 6,000 unique donors have contributed to his campaign.

“Throughout my career, I have prioritized principles over party politics. This campaign is no different. I remain dedicated to a retail politics approach and am thankful to have the support of so many Americans who have invested in our forward-looking vision for America,” Hutchinson said in a statement on Friday. “Together, we will bring out the best of America, and I am prepared to continue to serve the American people.”

Billionaire North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who launched his mostly self-funded campaign the same day as Pence, revealed Friday that he has outraised the former vice president. 

Burgum reportedly raised $1.6 million from donors over the last three months and contributed $10 million of his own money to his longshot campaign.

In an effort to reach 40,000 individual donors, Burgum is offering to send contributors a $20 gift card in exchange for donations as low as $1.

Burgum’s campaign said it was on track to dole out 20,000 of the gift cards in the first 48 hours after making the offer, according to Bloomberg.

In order to qualify for the debates, candidates must also have at least 1% support in national polls. 

A RealClearPolitics average of national polls places Burgum at the very end of the pack of GOP candidates with 0.1% support. 

Hutchinson is also struggling to reach the polling benchmark with national surveys only showing 0.8% of people backing his candidacy. 

Pence is averaging 6.3% support, according to RealClearPolitics. 

Earlier this week, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announced their impressive second-quarter fundraising results.

Scott’s campaign reported a $6.1 million fundraising haul from April-June, with over 75,000 donations from over 53,000 unique donors across all 50 states coming in. 

TIM PAC, the super PAC backing his candidacy, boasted of raising $19.28 million in the second quarter in support of Scott. 

Haley’s presidential campaign and two aligned political committees said they brought in $7.3 million during the second quarter, nearly double what Pence and his associated PAC raised.  

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign has also reported hauling in $20 million in the six weeks since announcing his White House bid. Never Back Down, the super PAC backing the governor of the Sunshine State, separately revealed that it had brought in $130 million in donations since the PAC launched in early March.

Former President Donald Trump’s team announced last week that his campaign and super PAC – Save America – raked in more than $35 million over the last three months. 

Trump, DeSantis, Haley and Scott are polling at 53%, 20.6%, 3.4% and 3.2%, respectively.