It costs a lot of money to become president of the United States. The 2020 presidential election cycle involved campaign expenditure of US$14 billion (£11 billion) – an amount that will almost certainly be beaten in November 2024.
By Sunday June 2, and after a buoyant Republican National Convention at which he was endorsed as the party’s candidate for the November election, data recorded by the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) had challenger Donald Trump leading incumbent president Joe Biden in the fundraising stakes by US$757 million to US$746 million. This reflected a surge in the second quarter of the year in which Trump had outdone Biden by nearly US$100 million.
But then, after weeks of speculation following a lacklustre debate performance in June and a series of gaffe-laden public appearances, Biden announced he would not seek re-election. Instead he endorsed his vice-president, Kamala Harris.
