Harris campaign breaking fundraising records in race against Trump since Biden bowed out
Vice President Kamala Harris raised $100 million from Sunday afternoon – when President Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed his vice president to succeed him as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee – through Monday night, her campaign announced on Tuesday morning.
And the Harris campaign also touted that the fundraising in the wake of the president's blockbuster news came from more than 1.1 million unique donors, with 62% of them first-time contributors.
The Harris campaign has been spotlighting the surge in fundraising, and in an email release on Monday afternoon highlighted that the money raised was the "largest 24-hour raise in presidential history."
But the Harris campaign hasn't offered a breakdown of what percentage of the cash haul was raised online by small-dollar donations and what share came from top-dollar donors. The haul includes money raised by the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and joint fundraising committees.
"The historic outpouring of support for Vice President Harris represents exactly the kind of grassroots energy and enthusiasm that wins elections," campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said in a statement. "Already, we are seeing a broad and diverse coalition come together to support our critical work of talking to the voters that will decide this election."
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On Monday, the Harris campaign spotlighted that they hauled in $81 million in the 24 hours following Biden's announcement.
The one-day haul easily topped the nearly $53 million former President Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee announced that they brought in nearly two months ago through their online digital fundraising platform in the first 24 hours after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in his criminal trial in New York City.
The surge in fundraising comes as the party started to quickly coalesce behind the vice president after Biden ended his bid. The president endorsed Harris immediately after suspending his own campaign, which ignited a surge of endorsements by Democratic governors, senators, House members and other party leaders in backing her to succeed Biden as the party's 2024 standard-bearer.
Harris on Monday night announced that she'd locked up the nomination by landing commitments of backing from a majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates to next month's Democratic National Convention, which kicks off Aug. 19 in Chicago.
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Biden on Sunday suspended his campaign amid mounting pressure from within the Democratic Party for him to drop out after a disastrous debate performance last month.
The 81-year-old president's uneven delivery and awkward answers during the first 20 minutes of the debate in front of a national audience quickly prompted questions about his mental and physical ability to serve another four years in the White House.
The money brought in over the past two days by Harris will help rebuild a once-massive Biden campaign war chest that was partially depleted as fundraising started to dry up amid the increasing chorus of calls for the president to drop out of the race.
Munoz said in a statement that "there is a groundswell behind Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump is terrified because he knows his divisive, unpopular agenda can’t stand up to the Vice President’s record and vision for the American people."
The Biden campaign and the DNC enjoyed a fundraising lead over Trump and the RNC this year. But Trump and the RNC topped Biden and the DNC, $331 million to $264 million, during the April-June second quarter of 2024 fundraising.
The Trump campaign tells Fox News that they "continue to have robust fundraising" and that they've "demonstrated a level of fundraising that we're satisfied with."
The Trump campaign highlights that their fundraising efforts are "doing what we need to do."
As of the end of last month, the Biden campaign had nearly $100 million in its coffers.
And on Sunday, the campaign filed new paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) naming Harris as the principal candidate, in a move to give the vice president complete control over the funds.
On Monday, the Harris campaign sent out a slew of fundraising emails and text messages.
"Now is our chance to make history," the vice president emphasized in one text as she asked donors for a $20 contribution.