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Donald Trump poised for big advertising blitz

WASHINGTON — The $18 million Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee raised in a day will help support a major advertising campaign and boost the party's voter-turnout efforts, Trump's finance chairman said Wednesday.

<p>US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump greets attendees after speaking at the Polish National Alliance in Chicago, Illinois, on September 28, 2016. / AFP / Jewel SAMAD (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)</p>

WASHINGTON — The $18 million Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee raised in a day will help support a major advertising campaign and boost the party’s voter-turnout efforts, Trump’s finance chairman said Wednesday.

Trump already has planned a roughly $150 million TV and digital advertising blitz for the campaign’s homestretch and that “could grow,” following the one-day outpouring of financial support, said Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s top fundraiser.

“When we have days like yesterday, we will either allocate that to get-out-the-vote or additional media,” he said.

Mnuchin said both small, online donors and more traditional Republican contributors stepped up Tuesday to contribute, one day after Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton faced off in their first general-election debate.

“We saw an absolute, direct correlation between the debate and our fundraising,” he said. “People watched him, and people liked what they heard.”

Trump’s fundraising, fueled largely by small donors, has climbed steadily since he began fundraising in earnest at the end of May. But he has struggled to attract larger donors.

Mnuchin said those donors are coming around. “We had a lot of people who were on the sidelines who jumped on board and a lot of new people as well,” he said of the commitments secured this week.

Tuesday’s fundraising haul came as part of a “National Call Day,” during which prominent Republican fundraisers, such as New York Jets owner Woody Johnson joined party officials, Trump’s running mate Mike Pence and three of Trump’s adult children in dialing donors.

Mnuchin said it’s too soon to tell how much Trump will report raising in September. He said the campaign is not likely to have received and processed all the money raised on Tuesday before the end of the day on Friday, the last day of the fundraising period.

Trump has lagged behind Clinton in fundraising and in the number of ads he has aired.

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