Romney tops Obama in fundraising with $76.8 million in May

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign reached a significant milestone Thursday, surpassing President Obama’s fundraising efforts in a single month for the first time with a whopping $76.8 million raised in May.

Obama’s campaign announced earlier in the morning that it and the Democratic National Committee had raised more than $60 million.

In the first full month of joint fundraising between Romney’s campaign, RNC and various committees associated with the two, 93% of donations were of $250 of less, totaling 297,442 individuals. That leads to a grand total of more than 319,800 donors for team Romney, compared to the more than 572,000 who donated to Obama and the DNC in May. Ninety-eight percent of donations to the president’s side were $250 or less.

Donations of less than $250 to Romney and the RNC accounted for $12 million of the funds raised in May, just 15.6% of the total.

The combined Republican organizations now have $107 million cash on hand, while Obama and the DNC have yet to release their total.

“We are encouraged by the financial support from a broad range of voters,” Romney’s finance chairman Spencer Zwick said. “To them, whether they are Republican, Democrat, Independent, a first-time political donor or a former Obama donor, this is not just a campaign, it’s an opportunity for the country.”

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus echoed Zwick, saying the fundraising totals are “a sign that Americans are tired of President Obama’s broken promises and want a change of direction in the White House.”

Obama and Romney were nearly neck-and-neck in fundraising in April, with $43.6 and $40.1 million respectively, but Romney and his associated organization’s month-to-month increase of $36.7 million more than doubles that of the president and his supporters.

Reporter Melanie Mason contributed to this post.

[For the Record, 3:15 p.m. PST June 7: The post has been corrected to make it more clear that the $76.8 million was raised by Romney, the RNC and various other committees, not just the candidate.]

morgan.little@latimes.com