Mitt Romney raises $101.3 million in July, beating President Obama for third straight month

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

Mitt Romney’s joint fund-raising committee announced a July haul of $101.3 million on Monday, outraising President Obama’s joint committee for the third straight month.

No presidential candidate had ever had two $100 million months in a single election.

Romney’s joint committee -- which collects money for his campaign, the Republican National Committee and several state GOP committees -- now has $185.9 million cash on hand.

President Obama’s joint fund-raising committee collected $75 million in July, his re-election campaign reported, its highest total of the election.

“Once again we see that for many people, this is more than a campaign, it is a cause,” Romney’s finance chairman, Spencer Zwick, said in a statement. “We are honored to have the support of a broad spectrum of donors -- independents, Democrats and Republicans -- whose support of Governor Romney shows that he has the needed plan to jump-start our economy and get the country on the right track again. We are well on track to raise the money to be successful in November.”

Romney has been on a fund-raising roll since locking up the Republican nomination. In May, the first full month after Romney dispatched the last of his serious GOP challengers, his joint committee raised $76.8 million.

Obama collected only $60 million in May, the first fund-raising period since 2007 in which he had been outraised.

The president fared better in June, pulling in $71 million, but fell far short of Romney’s $106.1 million.

Both campaigns sought to project broad bases of support. Romney’s reported that 94 percent of donations in July were $250 or less; Obama’s claimed 98 percent.

The Obama campaign also noted that 201,000 July donations came from people who had never contributed to the president before.