Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Raised Over $7 Million In The Fourth Quarter, Mostly From Republicans

The independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. raised more than $7 million from October to December 2023.

This information was disclosed in a Federation Election Commission (FEC) filing.

According to this filing, the funds added to the approximately $6.1 million the campaign had in the bank when entering the year’s fourth quarter.

Additionally, the campaign spent almost $7.8 million during that time, which left Kennedy with $5.4 million in cash.

He had $6.1 million in cash at the end of September 2023.

Kennedy’s campaign also received backlash for its donor base, with many people who supported Republicans in previous elections donating to the independent candidate. 

Critics argue that these donors are hoping to use his candidacy to weaken Joe Biden in the general election. 

About $5 million that Kennedy had taken in were itemized donations of more than $200 and, of those, about $224,000 were from donors to Donald Trump‘s 2020 presidential campaign. Only $105,000 had come from donors to Biden’s 2020 campaign. 

The amount of former Trump donors who gave him at least $200 during 2020 and Kennedy now dropped somewhat from July to December 2023.

The American Values 2024 PAC supporting Kennedy’s candidacy previously revealed in an FEC filing in August that half of its donations through 2023 so far had come from Timothy Mellon, a major GOP donor. This super PAC declared in a mid-year FEC filing that it raised around $9.8 million from January to June 2023 – $5 million of that came from Timothy Mellon, a GOP megadonor who gave millions during the last cycle to a super PAC working to elect Republicans to the House. He also donated thousands of dollars to several GOP House and Senate candidates. 

American Values previously stated that it raised $6.47 million throughout July 2023 with donations from Democrats and Republicans, including Mellon, which brought its total fundraising for the candidate to approximately $16.82 million. It noted that it received a donation from Abby Rockefeller, a longtime supporter of Democrats, and Gavin de Becker, a longtime major GOP donor.

“The fact that Kennedy gets so much bipartisan support tells me two things: that he’s the one candidate who can unite the country and root out corruption and that he’s the one Democrat who can win in the general election,” Mellon stated in the release.

“I’ve been voting for Democratic candidates all my life,” Rockefeller said in this release. “In seeking his party’s nomination, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has cast himself into the waters of truth. It’s a great relief and gives me hope.”

“Americans see enthusiastic crowds at Trump events, and they see no Biden events at all,” de Becker said. “We Democrats sorely need a candidate people can be enthusiastic about, someone brave enough to tell the truth and someone who understands our regulatory agencies because he has litigated against their corruption for years.”

“I’m sure most people working in those agencies also want change and improvement – and when a candidate is attacked fiercely by those in positions of power, it’s because they fear a person who can create change that benefits the citizens instead of the institutions,” he added. “I am proud to support RFK, Jr. for President.”

In July 2023, Kennedy faced backlash after a video emerged and showed him saying that Covid-19 was “ethnically targeted” towards white and black people while leaving “Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese” communities unharmed.

In addition to many civil rights groups accusing the presidential candidate of antisemitism and racism, Democrats like Jaime Harrison, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, spoke out against him.

Harrison said that the comments were troubling and clarified that they are not representative of the Democratic Party’s views.

To get Kennedy on the ballot, American Values 2024 pledged, in January, to spend over $15 million across swing states like Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, and solidly Democratic states like New York and California. Democrats fear that Kennedy’s emphasis on swing states will draw enough votes to swing the election to Trump.