Trump campaign says it raised $130 million in August

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign and his party raised $130 million in August, ending that month with $295 million cash on hand, the campaign said in a statement on Wednesday.

The fundraising was slightly lower than the level in July, when the Trump campaign raised $138.7 million. That was the month in which the former president survived an assassination attempt. At the end of July, the Trump campaign had $327 million of cash on hand.

The Democratic presidential campaign of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris outraised the Trump campaign in July. The Democrats' official August figures are yet to be released by the Harris campaign. Both sides are bombarding battleground states with television ads.

The Harris campaign had said last month that the campaign and the Democratic Party's main fundraising group had raised a combined $310 million in July.

President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on July 21 and endorsed Harris in the Nov. 5 election. Biden's withdrawal from the race came amid questions about his age and health after a halting debate performance against Trump in late June.

The ascension of Harris has re-energized a Democratic campaign that harbored doubts about Biden's chances.

Polls showed that Trump had built a lead over Biden, including in battleground states, but Harris' entry has tightened the polls.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Katharine Jackson and Matthew Lewis)