Kamala Harris’s U.S. presidential campaign announced on Sunday (August 25, 2024) that it has raised over $540 million in just over a month, setting a new record for campaign fundraising in history.
The impressive amount, raised since Harris launched her campaign after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race on July 21 and endorsed her, comes as she and Republican opponent Donald Trump enter the final 10-week stretch leading up to the election on November 5.
Trump, who faced challenges when Biden exited the race, reported having $327 million cash on hand at the beginning of August.
Just before Harris’s nomination acceptance speech at the DNC on August 22, campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon announced, “We officially crossed the $500 million mark.”
“Immediately after her speech, we saw our best fundraising hour since launch day,” she added.
“In just over a month since we launched our campaign, Team Harris-Walz raised $540 million — a record for any campaign in history.”
The funds were raised across the campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and joint fundraising committees, the statement noted.
O’Malley Dillon highlighted that one-third of the donations came from first-time contributors.
Harris’s campaign has attracted support from both large and small donors, a positive shift from the period following Biden’s poor debate performance in June when major donors reportedly stopped fundraising.
The campaign also mobilized a significant number of volunteers, with grassroots workers signing up in large numbers during the convention.
“Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s battleground infrastructure remains remarkably sparse,” O’Malley Dillon remarked.
Harris and Trump are currently tied in the polls less than three weeks before their upcoming debate in Philadelphia on September 10.
Harris, a former senator from California and prosecutor, left the Democratic convention in Chicago with momentum, having surpassed Trump in fundraising and closed the polling gap he had before she joined the Democratic ticket.
