U.S. Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris waves as she arrives to speak on the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. | Photo credit: AFP
Kamala Harris’ US presidential campaign said on Sunday (25 August 2024) that it has raised more than half a billion dollars in just over a month, “a record for any campaign in history.”
The eye-watering $540 million, raised since Ms. Harris launched her campaign after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race for the White House on July 21 and endorsed her, comes as she and Republican rival Donald Trump enter the final ten-week sprint starting Election Day on November 5.
Mr. Trump, whose campaign was cut short when Mr. Biden stepped aside, reported in early August that he had $327 million in cash on hand.
Just before Ms. Harris took the DNC stage on Thursday (Aug. 22) to accept her party’s nomination, “we officially crossed the $500 million mark,” campaign chairman Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a memo.
“Immediately following her speech, we saw our best fundraising hour since launch day,” she continued.
“In just over a month since we launched our campaign, Team Harris-Walz has raised $540 million – a record for any campaign in history.”
The amount reflects funds raised during the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and joint fundraising committees, the statement said.
A third of those donations came from first-time contributors, O’Malley Dillon said.
Ms. Harris’ campaign appears to have energized donors large and small — a turnaround in the period of uncertainty following a disastrous Biden debate in June, when major donors reportedly halted fundraising.
It also appears to have mobilized what O’Malley Dillon called “a virtual army of volunteers,” with the convention seeing grassroots workers sign up en masse.
“Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s battlefield infrastructure remains incredibly sparse,” she said.
Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump are neck and neck in the polls, less than three weeks before their Sept. 10 debate in Philadelphia.
Ms. Harris, 59, a former California senator and prosecutor, left the Democratic convention in Chicago with momentum, having raped Trump and erased the polls he had before she replaced Biden on the Democratic ticket.
