Harris team blows past $360M in August fundraising haul, more than doubling Trump
Vice President Kamala Harris’ political team once again blew past $300 million on the fundraising circuit, more than doubling former President Donald Trump’s haul for the month of August.
Last month, Harris’ crew raked in $361 million and capped off August with $404 million cash on hand across her campaign, joint committees and the Democratic National Committee, her team revealed.
By comparison, Trump’s campaign and allied committees announced a $130 million haul for the month of August — which clocked in below its $138.7 million July pull. His crew ended the month with $295 million cash on hand.
“In just a short time, Vice President Harris’ candidacy has galvanized a history-making, broad, and diverse coalition – with the type of enthusiasm, energy, and grit that wins close elections,” campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
“We are making sure we are doing everything possible to mobilize our coalition to defeat Donald Trump once and for all.”
Since Harris’ abrupt rise to the top of the ticket, her team has reaped an eye-bulging $615 million windfall, according to her campaign, which dubbed August “the largest haul of the 2024 cycle.”
That’s up from last week when her campaign confirmed it drew in $540 million within just over the one-month period since President Biden dropped out of the race.
The Harris camp billed August as “the best grassroots fundraising month in presidential history.” And it comes after the monster $310 million haul across the vice president’s campaign and aligned committees during the month of July.
During July, the Harris-Walz campaign and its affiliated committees broke past the $1 billion threshold at a historically fast pace.
“Since Vice President Harris announced her candidacy in July, one thing has been clear: voters are excited and motivated to send her to the Oval Office,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement.
Harris enjoyed multiple key boosts in August, including the announcement of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her pick for vice president — which was the third-best grassroots date for the campaign to date — and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Her campaign claims that “five of the top ten grassroots days of the campaign were from August.”
Donations came from nearly three million donors, including “1.3 million donors making their first donation this cycle,” per her team.
Notably, some 60% of donors during the month of August were female and about a fifth were Republicans or Independents.
Roughly 95% of donations during the month were under $200, compared to 98% of donations to Trump’s crew that were under $200.
Trump’s top pollster predicted that Harris would enjoy a honeymoon of sorts in the polls after she replaced Biden at the top of the ticket, but the former president’s team has tried to argue that momentum will fizzle out. Harris’ allies are citing the mammoth haul as evidence that her momentum hasn’t waned.
In a display of fiscal confidence, the Harris-Walz campaign and DNC announced plans this week to funnel $25 million to down-ballot races, seeking to boost Democrats.
Previously, the Trump campaign and allied groups outpaced Harris’ team in terms of spending in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina between July 22 and Aug. 25, per ad-tracking firm Ad Impact and NPR.
However, the Harris-Walz campaign appears set to unleash its mountain of cash into the battleground states as the former president’s team seemingly homes in on Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Harris’ team has planned to splurge $370 million to blanket both digital and television with ads spanning Labor Day through election night.
Meanwhile, Trump’s team is seeking to convey confidence that it’s sufficiently geared up for the election home stretch.
“With Republicans united and a growing number of Independents and disaffected Democrats crossing partisan lines, the Trump-Vance campaign has momentum for the final stretch of the race,” Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes said in a statement.
“These fundraising numbers from August are a reflection of that movement and will propel President Trump’s America First movement back to the White House so we can undo the terrible failures of Harris and Biden.”
Trump previously lagged behind Biden and Hillary Clinton on the fundraising circuit. But Harris has been adamant that she’s the “underdog” in this contest.
Harris and Trump are set to square off in Philadelphia for a debate on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC News.
Ahead of that verbal bout, Harris is expected to hunker down in preparation.
