Late-2025 campaign finance filings show President Trump and allied accounts controlled or aligned with him held roughly $375 million entering 2026. The disclosures include $26 million raised by his joint fundraising committee in H2 2025, about $8 million to his leadership PAC Never Surrender, and large sums reported by super PACs such as MAGA Inc.. Never Surrender spent $6.7 million from July to December—mostly on advertising and fundraising-related services—and Trump-linked groups have largely conserved cash during Republican primaries so far.
Lame Duck No More: Trump Sits on Roughly $375M War Chest Ahead of Midterms
New campaign finance disclosures filed late Saturday show that President Donald Trump and allied accounts entered 2026 with an unusually large pool of cash—roughly $375 million—giving him an independent political engine to influence the midterms and future contests despite being term-limited.
What the Filings Reveal
The filings show Trump’s joint fundraising committee raised about $26 million in the second half of 2025, while roughly $8 million flowed directly into his leadership PAC, Never Surrender. In addition, a Trump-aligned super PAC reported having more than $300 million on hand, and MAGA Inc. reported roughly $289 million in contributions last year.
Combined, a network of campaign accounts—some directly controlled by Trump and others run by close allies—report approximately $375 million in cash and contributions available as 2026 begins. That total far outstrips the resources of any single political figure, Republican or Democrat, at the start of the year.
How the Money Is Moving
Most transfers from Trump National Committee, his joint fundraising vehicle, have flowed into Never Surrender, with smaller disbursements to the Republican National Committee and Vice President J.D. Vance’s leadership PAC, Working For Ohio. By law, leadership PAC funds cannot be spent on a candidate’s own campaign, but they can underwrite travel, pay allies, and support political activity—functions critics sometimes label as potential “slush fund” behavior.
Never Surrender reported $6.7 million in expenditures from July through December 2025; more than half of that spending went to advertising, digital consulting and direct mail—categories often tied to fundraising and outreach rather than direct candidate spending.
Where the Money Could Matter
Trump’s groups have largely held back from heavy spending in Republican primaries so far. He has publicly opposed a handful of incumbents—such as Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)—but has not broadly deployed his financial heft against them. A super PAC targeting Massie, MAGA KY, is run by Trump allies but has received most of its funding from GOP megadonor Paul Singer. MAGA Inc.’s only notable election-related spending in 2025 was support for now-Rep. Matt Van Epps in a Tennessee special election.
Relative Party Positioning
The scale of Trump-linked cash gives him leverage separate from traditional party infrastructure. The RNC held about $95 million at year-end—roughly one-quarter of the cash available to Trump-affiliated accounts—while the DNC reported just over $14 million on hand and more than $17 million in debt.
In short, the disclosures portray a uniquely concentrated political war chest that can be used to influence races directly or indirectly, even if legal and practical limits restrict some types of spending.
Context: The filings reflect both contributions reported (e.g., MAGA Inc.’s receipts) and cash on hand in related super PACs; those figures differ because contributions do not always translate immediately into liquid balances held in each account.
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