The release of Q1 2019 fundraising reports offers one of the first insights into the 2020 cycle. The conversation surrounding these reports is largely focused on specific, vulnerable candidates: are they raising enough to defend endangered seats, or have they let their guard down? But the Q1 numbers also contain a considerable amount of information about the possible macro trends of the 2020 cycle. Perhaps most notably, the disclosures from Q1 2019 show that the aggregated cash-on-hand (CoH) totals for presidential candidates are astronomically higher than they were in the 2012 and 2016 cycles. CoH is a strong metric for predicting overall political paid media spending and we think are superior to overall contributions or receipts since it demonstrates the ability to implement a strategy. Presidential candidates have disclosed a combined $136 million CoH for Q1 2019. This is an incredible $123 million more than the $13 million presidential candidates had on hand in Q1 2015. By this point in 2015, only U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and neurosurgeon Ben Carson had raised more than $1 million; their
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