Donald Trump has loaned his campaign over $36M so far
Sanders raising more than Clinton, but Clinton super PAC already has $64M saved for general election TV ads
Donald Trump lent his presidential campaign another $11.5 million US last month as he racked up primary wins that put him at the top of the Republican race.
New Federal Election Commission filings show Trump's total personal investment into his asymmetrical bid now stands at about $36 million. In March, the billionaire businessman spent $13.8 million and collected about $2.7 million from donors.
Meanwhile, finances for the two Republican candidates hoping to topple the front-running Trump held signs of trouble, March FEC reports show.
Kasich's Ohio bump not so big
Ohio Gov. John Kasich scored a must-win primary in his home state last month, but the victory only modestly helped his campaign coffers. He raised $4.5 million in March, only about $1 million more than the previous month.
That's despite his assertion that he's the most electable Republican in a general election. Donors don't appear to see that as enough of a reason to give.
The main outside group working to help him also fared relatively poorly, filings show. The super PAC New Day for America brought in $2.8 million in March — even less than it raised a month earlier, before his Ohio win. Most of the March money came from a handful of donors.
Six-figure backers included hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller, Quicken Loans founder and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and Gordon Gund, CEO of Gund Investment Group, who previously owned several sports franchises through the years.
New Day had $1.2 million cash on hand as this month began, while Kasich's campaign had about $1 million.
Cruz benefactor has contributed $13.5M
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who was denied any delegates Tuesday in the New York primary, continued to romp Kasich when it comes to fundraising, taking in $12.5 million in March.
Like Kasich, Cruz cannot win the GOP nomination outright; however, he has amassed far more delegates than the governor, putting him in a stronger position if the nominee is chosen this summer at a contested convention.
Cruz can also count on a bevy of super PACs that continue to rake in new dollars. The group recently tasked with fundraising for many of them, called Trusted Leadership, took in $4.5 million by consolidating funds from older super PACs and landing a pair of seven-figure donations.
Missouri-based Herzog Contracting Corp, an asphalt and pavement contractor founded by Bill Herzog, donated $1 million, and so did Richard Uihlein, CEO of shipping supply distributor Uline Inc.
In addition, Cruz's top financial supporter, hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, ponied up another $2 million in March, bringing his total investment in Cruz's efforts to $13.5 million.
Our Principles PAC, a group established solely to oppose Trump's presidential run, brought in about $8.4 million including a $200,000 donation from the Cruz-aligned Keep the Promise I super PAC.
But Our Principles quickly tore through that money, spending more than $11.2 million in March and ending the month with just under $425,000 cash on hand. The group's filing shows that the bulk of the money went into anti-Trump ads, research and voter contact.
Clinton juggernaut keeps rolling
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders continued to outpace rival Hillary Clinton in fundraising — and spending — last month.
Sanders' record March haul of almost $46 million topped Clinton by about $19 million. Yet he vaporized that cash advantage by spending roughly $17 million more than she did. Sanders shared the numbers on his campaign website, but his report wasn't available through the FEC by early Thursday.
While racking up wins in recent primary states, except New York this week, Sanders has failed to nudge Clinton off her apparent path to the party's presidential nomination.
She began April with $29 million, and he with $17 million.
Even as Sanders remains in the primary, an outside group helping front-runner Clinton is looking ahead to the general election.
Priorities USA, a super PAC that says it plans to pour $125 million into ads supporting Clinton, reported taking in $11.7 million in March, bringing the group's total haul this election cycle to more than $67 million.
So far, data from Kantar Media's advertising tracker show the group has reserved more than $64 million in television ads scheduled to air from Aug. 2 through the day before the general election.
The group also said it will start airing other TV ads in June and plans to spend heavily on digital advertising to support Clinton and attack Cruz and Trump.
At the start of April, Priorities reported more than $44 million cash on hand. A group spokesman also says it has lined up an additional $49 million in "commitments" from wealthy donors.