Romney reports raising $18.25M in Q2

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke yesterday with local business owners during a town hall meeting in Hampton, N.H. Cheryl Senter/AP

By Glen Johnson

July 6, 2011

1 minute to read

Republican Mitt Romney plans to report raising $18.25 million during the second quarter for his presidential campaign.

The former Massachusetts governor said in a statement today that he had raised that sum between April 1 and June 30, and still had $12.6 million on hand.

While he has yet to release the report due to the Federal Election Commission by mid-month, Romney’s statement said he had received donations from all 50 state and Washington, DC.

“Voters are responding to Mitt Romney’s message that President Obama’s policies have failed and that we need new leadership in Washington,’’ said Romney for President National Finance Chairman Spencer Zwick. “Our fund-raising for the second quarter represents the strong support Mitt Romney has across the country.’’

Obama himself is expected to report well over an informal $60 million goal set by his supporters.

In 2007, during the first quarter of his first presidential campaign – a parallel period for the figures released today – Romney reported raising $23.43 million. That is more than $5 million greater than the sum Romney reported today.

During the first quarter of his first campaign, Romney also loaned his political committee $2.35 million in seed money. This year, he did not.

Ultimately, Romney contributed over $45 million in personal funds to his first campaign, despite saying at the outset of the race that doing so would be “akin to a nightmare’’ for a candidate interested in showing a broad base of support.

His aggressive fund-raising to date shows a determination not to repeat his reliance on personal funding, and to underscore popular backing for his second campaign.

This time around, Romney is also getting a boost from an outside political action committee.

“Restore Our Future’’ reported yesterday that it had raised $12 million during the first six months of the year, with that entire sum available for ads and other means of supporting the Romney campaign message.