President Trump’s ongoing re-election bid is expected to cost upwards of $1 billion by 2020, campaign manager Brad Parscale said in an interview aired Thursday.
The digital media director of Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, Mr. Parscale cited the hefty cost in response to a question asked by Fox News host Martha McCallum.
“You spent about $44 million on Facebook last time around,” he was asked during the interview. “What kind of investment do you manage in 2020?”
“Well, it depends on how you look at it,” Mr. Parscale responded. “We’re still spending millions of dollars across all the networks now. I mean, by the time we’re done spending, I imagine on 2020, it will be nearly a billion dollars.”
Mr. Trump formally entered the last presidential race in June 2015, giving the Republican candidate nearly 17 months to fundraise before voters cast ballots. He wasted almost no time before launching a 2020 bid, however, evidenced by Mr. Trump filing re-election paperwork with the Federal Election Commision on Jan. 20, 2017, the same day his presidency started.
“It’s a different game then. That game was over a few months. This game is over almost four years,” said Mr. Parscale.
“Democrats can go and fight against all of them right now. And then they have to come out of their convention and they have a three-month run like we did last time,” Mr. Parscale added. “We’re already fighting now. We’re already building that. We’re already doing more than any campaign has ever done before and we’re still two years out.”
Nearly two years until the 2020 race concludes, only a handful of Democratic contenders — namely Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, former Obama official Julián Castro and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney – have formally announced plans to run.
Combined with contributions from super PACs and party and joint fundraising committees, Mr. Trump’s election campaign raised $957.6 million through Dec. 31, 2016, The Washington Post reported previously. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign and its supporters raised roughly $1.4 billion toward the Democrat’s bid during that same span, the report said.
Democrats raised around $1.12 billion for Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012, Politico previously reported.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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