Mitt Romney's campaign officially confirmed June as a record-breaking fundraising month, announcing Monday that he raised $106 million for his campaign and the Republican National Committee.
The total includes contributions to the Romney campaign and the Romney Victory Fund, a joint committee set up between the campaign and the RNC. According to a statement from the Romney campaign, the combined fundraising effort resulted in more than $160 million cash on hand.
The June total marks two record-breaking fundraising months in a row for the Romney campaign. In May, the Republican nominee raised nearly $77 million—roughly $17 million more than President Barack Obama's re-election campaign. The Obama campaign has yet to announce its June fundraising totals. (UPDATE: Obama raised $71 million for his campaign and the Democratic National Committee in June. The campaign did not disclose its cash-on-hand figure.)
Democrats have seized on Romney's fundraising, arguing that Obama is likely to be outspent ahead of November's election. "It could cost us the election," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina argued in an email to supporters last week.
But the Romney campaign tried to turn the tables on Democrats, arguing in a memo to reporters that it's actually Romney who is the financial underdog heading into the fall campaign.
"While the Obama campaign would have you believe that they have been outspent, it's just not the case. Besides the fact that we are facing off against an incumbent president who has been able to fully engage in a fundraising battle this entire campaign, as we could not, we are only allowed to spend primary dollars from now through the convention," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an email. "Obama had no primary opponent, so could use all the money he raised for the primary against Gov. Romney. By contrast, Gov. Romney had to wage a long and expensive primary campaign using precious primary dollars that could not be replenished after he won."
All told, Romney raised an average of $3.5 million a day in June—an unsurprising total given his packed fundraising schedule last month. The GOP nominee headlined more than 20 finance events to raise cash for his campaign. That included a $15 million fundraising swing through Texas in early June. On June 20, Romney raised more than $8 million during a series of events in Michigan. The campaign says this is Romney's single best day of fundraising so far this cycle.
But Romney aides were quick to point to fundraising among small donors. Of the $106 million raised last month, $22.3 million came from donors who gave $250 or less, a sizable chunk for a candidate who has struggled to woo small contributors. The number of small donors has often been considered a gauge for how enthusiastic average people are about a specific candidate and campaign.
"This month's fundraising is a statement from voters that they want a change of direction in Washington," Spencer Zwick, Romney's national finance chairman, said in a statement announcing the June totals.
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