Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (R) shakes hands with former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2024.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images
Vice President Kamala Harris substantially outraised and outspent former President Donald Trump in August, ending the month with more cash to fund her final sprint to the November election, according to new filings from the Federal Election Commission.
The Harris campaign raised over $189 million in August, more than quadruple the $44 million sum that the Trump campaign brought in.
Those figures reflect fundraising specifically for the candidate’s main campaign accounts and do not include donations to the other branches of their political operations.
The Harris campaign announced earlier this month a total $361 million August haul from campaign donations joint with the Democratic National Committee and fundraising committees. That dwarfed the $130 million raised between the Trump campaign and its joint fundraising committees.
These figures do not factor in September donations, including the Harris campaign’s $47 million cash bump from nearly 600,000 donors in the 24 hours following the first and possibly only Harris-Trump debate.
The Harris campaign on Saturday accepted an invitation from CNN to hold a second debate on Oct. 23, but Trump has so far staunchly maintained that he will not do a rematch.
The new FEC filings depict a steady surge of donor enthusiasm for Harris, even as the initial hype of Democrats’ July candidate swap tempered. The entire Harris political operation raised $310 million in July after President Joe Biden ended his candidacy and endorsed her to take over the Democratic ticket.
Harris has also flipped the donation gap to Democrats’ favor, erasing the fundraising lead Trump and Republicans had before Biden dropped out.
Since then, the Harris campaign has been outspending Trump with an advertising blitz across television and digital platforms, along with along with other campaign expenses.
Harris and the DNC jointly spent $258 million in August, well above the $121 million that Trump and the RNC disbursed, according to FEC filings.
“As we enter the final stretch of this election, we’re making sure every hard-earned dollar goes to winning over the voters who will decide this election,” Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a press release earlier this month.
Heading into the final sprint of the presidential race, the Harris team ended August with $404 million in cash on hand, outpacing the $295 million war chest reported by Trump’s operation.
The Trump campaign assured that its donations will carry it through the rest of the race.
“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.”
