Harris raises US$540 million since launching her presidential campaign
DEMOCRAT Kamala Harris has raised US$540 million in little more than a month since she began her race for US president, with a surge of donations flowing in during the Democratic National Convention last week, her campaign said on Sunday.
Just before Harris took to the stage at the DNC on Thursday to accept her party’s nomination, “we officially crossed the US$500 million mark,” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a memo.
“Immediately after her speech, we saw our best fundraising hour since launch day,” she continued.
“In just over a month since we launched our campaign, Team Harris-Walz raised US$540 million - a record for any campaign in history.”
The sum reflects funds raised across the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and joint fundraising committees, the statement said.
One-third of those donations were from first-time contributors, O’Malley Dillon said.
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Harris‘s campaign appears to have energised large and small donors alike - a turnaround from the uncertain period after a disastrous Biden debate performance in June, when major donors reportedly halted fundraising.
It also appears to have mobilised what O’Malley Dillon called “a virtual army of volunteers,” with the convention seeing grassroots workers signing up in droves.
“Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s battleground infrastructure remains incredibly sparse,” she said.
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Harris and Trump are neck and neck in the polls less than three weeks before their Sept 10 debate in Philadelphia.
Harris, 59, a former senator from California and prosecutor, left the Democratic convention in Chicago with momentum, having outraised Trump and erased the polling leads he enjoyed before she replaced Biden on the Democratic ticket.
Vice-President Harris became a candidate for president on July 21 when President Joe Biden stepped aside under pressure from fellow Democrats concerned about his cognitive ability after he stumbled during a June 27 debate against Republican Donald Trump.
The Harris candidacy has generated momentum that has put Trump on the defensive and he has struggled to maintain the media spotlight on him.
Harris and her vice-presidential running mate, Tim Walz, take their campaign for the White House on a bus tour through Georgia this week, looking to build support in a state looming large in the Nov 5 election. REUTERS, AFP
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