Gov. Bobby Jindal raised nearly $579,000 his first week as a presidential candidate, but he has another $8.6 million in his corner thanks to supportive outside groups.
Jindal, who entered the presidential contest one week before the close of the second quarter fundraising period, will report raising $578,758 from June 24-30, his campaign team confirmed to the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. That’s an average of $96,000 per day from 2,003 individual donors; 87% of them contributed less than $100 each.
Serving as treasurer for the Jindal for President campaign is Rolfe McCollister, publisher of Business Report.
Believe Again, the super PAC supporting Jindal’s presidential bid, raised $3.7 million since launching in January. An additional almost $4 million was raised by America Next, a 501(c)4 nonprofit backing Jindal, with another $1 million flowing to American Future Project, a Jindal 527. Brad Todd, the Republican consultant behind Jindal’s outside groups, says July fundraising has been robust, though he declined to provide figures.
Jindal, 44, is lagging in the polls, registering at 1.4% nationally among Republican primary voters, according to the RealClearPolitics average, placing him far out of contention to qualify for the first televised debate, set for Aug. 6 in Cleveland.
But Jindal’s campaign is confident that their candidate has the profile and resources to make headway. The governor’s early focus has been on Iowa, host of the first nominating contest of the 2016 primary calendar.
“Jindal is a full spectrum conservative—economically, culturally, and when it comes to foreign policy. He’s shown he will not shy away from conservative beliefs,” says Gail Gitcho, senior advisor to Jindal. “Gov. Jindal will not hide, and he has more bandwidth to fight for our policies than any other candidate. His campaign and message is clearly resonating with voters who care about this election.”
