The race is heating up.
Vice President Kamala Harris is entering the final stretch of the 2024 presidential campaign with a significant fundraising advantage over former President Trump, as detailed in new federal filings. In August, Harris raised nearly $190 million, significantly outpacing Trump’s reported $44.5 million for the same period. This disparity reflects a substantial lead for the Harris campaign as it prepares for the upcoming election.
Additionally, Harris’s campaign expenditures were markedly higher than Trump’s. The vice president’s team spent approximately $174 million in August, primarily focused on advertising to enhance her visibility after she took over as the Democratic candidate from President Biden. In contrast, Trump’s campaign reported expenditures of about $61 million, mainly on media buys, indicating a stark difference in strategic spending between the two campaigns.
As of September, Harris’s campaign holds $235 million in cash reserves, which is considerably more than Trump’s $135 million. This financial cushion highlights the surge in fundraising that Harris has experienced since becoming the Democratic nominee. Both candidates utilize affiliated fundraising committees, which report their financial activities on different timelines, contributing to the overall fundraising totals.
The Harris campaign also recently announced that she and her allied committees collected $361 million in August, nearly tripling the $130 million raised by Trump and his associated groups. Notably, after her first debate with Trump, Harris raised $47 million from almost 600,000 donors within a 24-hour period, demonstrating her campaign’s strong donor engagement.
In response to the fundraising disparity, Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley acknowledged the Democrats’ financial advantages but expressed confidence in the GOP’s resources to effectively communicate their message to voters. He emphasized that the Republican campaign is well-positioned to compete as Election Day approaches, despite the challenges posed by the Democrats’ fundraising prowess.
