donald j. trump and hillary clinton unleashed a barrage of spending in september, with both candidates burning through more money than they raised as the fall campaign sprint began. mr. trump spent $70 million in september, according to reports filed thursday with the federal election commission , more than double the $30 million his campaign laid out in august and more than three times what he spent in july. he began the final full month of the campaign with just $35 million in cash on hand. mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign spent even more, $95 million, according to figures provided by her campaign, and began october with $59 million on hand. both candidates<u+2019> coffers are relatively small by the standards of modern campaigns. mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign spent at least $1 million on his own aircraft and trump-owned hotels, resorts or office buildings. in addition to the $21 million mr. trump spent on online advertising <u+2014> his single largest expense <u+2014> he was billed at least $5 million by cambridge analytica, a publicity-shy data mining and analytics firm owned by mr. trump<u+2019>s chief financial benefactor, the wealthy investor robert mercer. the purpose of the spending was listed as <u+201c>data management<u+201d> in election commission reports. in august, mr. trump paid the same firm just $250,000. despite mr. trump<u+2019>s cultivated image as a candidate who tells it as it is and draws his inspiration from his crowds, his campaign also paid at least five pollsters in september. the month began a period in which mr. trump has struggled to stay on message and find a solid footing against mrs. clinton, while he feuded with a former beauty queen and fended off accusations of sexual harassment and abuse from a growing roster of women. and even as the democrats vastly out-organized mr. trump, his spending on payroll went up only modestly in september, suggesting that he has given up on trying to compete with mrs. clinton in the field. while she has a staff of hundreds, mr. trump has reliably spent more on hats and other merchandise for supporters than he has on staff. he also reported what was said to be a final payout of $100,000 to his former campaign manager, corey lewandowski, who was fired months ago but continues to travel with mr. trump on the trail. all in all, mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign took in about $55 million in september compared with $84 million for mrs. clinton, according to a tally her campaign released this month, a record for the democratic nominee in her second presidential bid. while presidential campaigns typically accelerate their spending heavily in the fall, they also usually keep raising more and more money as party donors come off the sidelines and the stakes of the race become clear. but mr. trump<u+2019>s fund-raising has remained relatively flat since he became the nominee. two-thirds of the cash his campaign raised in september came directly from grass-roots supporters, indicating his struggles in bringing wealthy republican donors on board. on thursday, his campaign announced via text message that mr. trump had raised $9 million in a single day from 125,000 people after the third and final presidential debate. more money is sitting in joint funds whose proceeds are shared with republican party committees, though it is unclear exactly how much of that is owed to mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign. <u+201c>mr. trump has said many times that this is not a campaign, it<u+2019>s a movement,<u+201d> said brad parscale, mr. trump<u+2019>s digital director, in an email. find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via facebook , twitter and the first draft newsletter . a version of this article appears in print on october 21, 2016, on page a19 of the new york edition with the headline: trump and clinton both accelerated spending in september, federal reports show. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
trump and clinton both accelerated spending in september
nicholas confessore