In the just-more-than a month since Vice President Kamala Harris stepped into the political limelight her campaign for the White House has raised an historic $540 million.
According to the Harris Walz campaign, that sizable amount is “a record for any campaign in history.”
“Not only are our volunteers doing the work, but this week we saw unprecedented grassroots donations. Just before Vice President Harris’ acceptance speech Thursday night, we officially crossed the $500 million mark. Immediately after her speech, we saw our best fundraising hour since launch day,” the campaign said in a Sunday morning memo.
According to the Harris camp, a third of the donations made to the campaign are from first-time political donors, most of whom are women.
“Almost one-fifth of those first-time contributors were young voters and two-thirds of which were women — both of which are poised to be deciding constituencies in November,” the campaign said. “Teachers and nurses also continue to be among the most common donor occupations.”
The campaign used the convention, they say, to launch a massive organizing effort. Volunteers agreed to staff more than 200,000 shifts in the coming weeks aimed at mobilizing voters, they said, and that’s after volunteers completed 10,000 shifts in the days leading up to the Democratic National Convention and contacted more than one million voters.
“On Thursday and Friday alone, volunteers signed up for 90,000 shifts, motivated by the extraordinary excitement around the Vice President’s speech. We head into September with a virtual army of volunteers ready to do the hard work of talking to their neighbors, friends and colleagues. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s battleground infrastructure remains incredibly sparse,” the campaign wrote.
Trump has proven to be a formidable fundraiser, but appears to be outpaced in her month-old campaign. Trump’s campaign and its related affiliates announced earlier this month that they had raised $138.7 million in July — less than what Harris took in during her White House bid’s opening week. Trump’s campaign reported $327 million in cash on hand at the start of August.
Trump is scheduled to address the National Guard Association of the United States’ at their 146th General Conference and Exhibition in Detroit, Michigan on Monday, and he’s set to give remarks in Grand Rapids on Tuesday. Trump will stop in Potterville, Michigan, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Thursday. Trump has a rally schedule for Friday in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
According to Trump’s MAGA 2024 campaign pollsters, Tony Fabrizio and Travis Tunis, the enthusiasm suddenly seen behind Harris’s campaign is nothing more than the “honeymoon” period following her ascension to the top of the ticket.
The “Harris honeymoon,” they say, will eventually fade.
“We’ve certainly had a front row seat to the ‘honeymoon.’ In fact, the Media decided to extend the honeymoon for over 4 weeks now,” they said in a statement. “But even after all the fawning coverage of Harris and negative coverage of President Trump, we find this race fundamentally tied.”
As of Sunday there were 72 days left until the November 5 general election. According to polling averages maintained by RealClearPolitics and 538, Harris leads Trump by 1.5% and 3.6%, respectively.
