Pro-Clinton super-PAC has $47M to fight Trump

Hillary Clinton’s top super-PAC raised $8.6 million in April, bringing its total donations and commitments to $121 million so far this presidential campaign cycle, an official said.

Priorities USA has already begun hitting Donald Trump with attack ads and will do so through to Election Day. The group has already made $136 million worth of advertising reservations, said communications director Justin Barasky. That includes $96 million on TV and $35 million on digital. It’s currently up on the air with $6 million worth of TV, hammering Trump in four battleground states – Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Nevada. The aim is to define Trump early as a con artist with a history of disrespecting women, and to frame him as too risky to be commander-in-chief.

Clinton’s super-PAC is now financially better positioned than any other outside group in the country. It was sitting on $47 million cash on hand at the end of April, a Priorities USA official said in a statement Friday.

“This week Priorities began a sustained advertising campaign that won’t stop until election day with $6 million behind our first television ads against Donald Trump,” said Priorities USA’s chief strategist Guy Cecil.  

“Priorities is ready to do everything we can to contrast Hillary Clinton’s record with a con-man like Donald Trump who is too divisive and dangerous to ever be President of the United States.”

The pro-Clinton super-PAC has already been organizing for months, giving it an edge over the pro-Trump forces, which are only now frantically forming outside groups to haul in donations. Their task is further complicated because the GOP donor class that has been repeatedly insulted by Trump over the course of the primary season. 

Trump has for months insisted he doesn’t want GOP donors’ money and that he’s so rich — he claims a net worth of $10 billion — that he has no need for so-called “special interest” cash. 

Trump further alienated a number of influential GOP donors by suggesting that they had corrupt relationships with elected officials. 

Mel Sembler, a top Jeb Bush super-PAC official, told The Hill recently that he would not soon forget Trump’s speech last year to the Republican Jewish Coalition, when the GOP front-runner told the audience they probably weren’t going to support him because he didn’t want their money. The remark caused an uproar because of the perception that it played into negative stereotypes about Jews.

But now, facing a general election that will likely cost more than $1 billion, Trump says he’s no longer self-funding, and he’s hurrying to build a traditional fundraising apparatus. 

This week Trump announced a joint fundraising committee with the Republican National Committee. The billionaire also touted on Twitter his endorsement by Las Vegas mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, who has indicated he’s prepared to put more than $100 million behind super-PACs supporting Trump.

The Clinton super-PAC said Friday it’s prepared for a big money shootout against Trump.

“As Republican special interests begin to coalesce around their nominee our continued fundraising success is crucial to our efforts to take the fight to Trump from now until November,” Cecil said.