Harris trumps Donald in campaign funding

Washington: Kamala Harris has raised a record USD 310 million in July, her campaign said on Friday, as the presumptive Democratic Party nominee stepped up her election campaign against her Republican Party rival Donald Trump in the US presidential election.

Comparatively, the rival Trump campaign of the Republican Party raised USD 138.7 million in July and has USD 327 million cash on hand. Vice President Harris, 59, is the only candidate who has filed paperwork to be the nominee of the Democratic Party for the November 5 presidential elections after her boss and incumbent President Joe Biden on July 20 announced his withdrawal from the race and endorsed her as the candidate.

“With today’s announcement, Team Harris has already raised over USD 1 billion this cycle, the fastest a presidential campaign has crossed the USD 1 billion threshold in presidential history,” the Harris Campaign said Friday. “This is a history-making haul for a candidate who will make history this November. The tremendous outpouring of support we’ve seen in just a short time makes clear the Harris coalition is mobilised, growing, and ready to put in the work to defeat Trump this November,” said Harris for President campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.

If elected on November 5 to succeed President Biden, Harris – the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother – would not only be the first woman, but the first Indian-American, the first Asian, the first Black woman and the first person of Jamaican descent to ascend to the office. “Our money is going to the work that wins close elections – whether it be an organiser knocking doors in DeKalb County, a rural office opening in Pennsylvania, or a college student tabling at a club fair. It is the product of a campaign and coalition that knows the hard work and fighting spirit needed to win in November – and when we fight, we win,” she said.

The USD 377 million in cash on hand is the largest ever war chest at this point in the cycle and USD 50 million more than the Trump team’s post-July cash on hand.

July’s USD 310 million haul was also the strongest grassroots month in presidential campaign history and was powered by a surge in new support. Two-thirds of the record-shattering haul came from first-time donors, the campaign said, adding that it is further proof of the tremendous support for Harris. Additionally, the vast majority of July’s raise came from grassroots donors, and eight of the campaign’s ten best grassroots fundraising days came in July, it said.