As 2020 Nears, Promotional Spending for Trump's Reelection Bid Heats Up

By Tom Higgins

Donald Trump’s presidency isn’t even two years old, and yet the effort to reelect the man in 2020 has already surpassed $53.5 million in funding.

According to campaign finance disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission on Sunday, $17.7 million was raised by Trump’s campaign and two fundraising groups operated with the Republican National Committee from the month of April to the end of June alone.

As if that weren’t staggering enough, the New York Times has reported that the Trump campaign has managed to stockpile more than $88 million for the 2020 campaign since the president was elected.

In the promotional products world, we know exactly what all of this means: political promotions are heating up, and the money is coming in fast.

Per the Huffington Post, the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, which sells Trump-branded merchandise and hats bearing campaign slogans, raised $10.2M during the second quarter of 2018 alone. Out of this, the group has spent at least $600,000 to manufacture branded hats, T-shirts, towels and commemorative coins, to name only a few items.

With midterm elections nearly upon us, and a likely heated presidential election campaign on the way, the promotional products industry should have plenty of sales opportunities over the next several years. Whether this makes you groan from political exhaustion, or grin at the thought of so much business, just remember: The election cycles never end, so it’s never too late to start selling!