Perry raises $1.1 million in first month

by Megan R. Wilson - 07/15/15 4:01 PM ET

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry hauled in roughly $1.14 million in his first month a presidential candidate, newly submitted records show.

Perry announced he would make a run for the White House on June 4, just more than a month prior to the end of the second-quarter filing deadline.

{mosads}His fundraising total represents a significant drop from his debut in the 2012 presidential cycle.

In the last presidential race, Perry declared on Aug. 13, 2011 that he would be a presidential candidate, and by the end of September, Federal Election Commission records show donors had shelled out more than $17 million to his campaign.

But it’s not all bad for Perry. There are also other campaign vehicles, including a super-PAC called Opportunity and Freedom, willing to spend big on his behalf.

“We’ve always sort of viewed [Perry’s] announcement though the debate as a phase one,” Austin Barbour, an adviser to a group of super-PACs that are backing the former governor, told The New York Times. “We want to do everything we can do to begin the reintroduction to voters in Iowa, particularly, but also help him qualify for the first debate.”

The Opportunity and Freedom PAC began a $1 million nation advertising campaign that will span television, conservative talk radio and the Internet.

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There are currently three super-PACs throwing their weight behind Perry that have raised a total of nearly $18 million, according to CNN, including a single $4 million check.

However, that eight-figure number still pales in comparison to other presidential big-money PACs. A super-PAC supporting former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said earlier this month that it had raised $103 million.

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