A surge in donations to Harris’ newly renamed presidential campaign is once again disrupting the 2024 fundraising race.
The vice president has raised more than $100 million in his first few days as a candidate, the latest development in a tumultuous fundraising cycle.
President Joe Biden had led in large donations going into 2023, but has turned the tables in recent months and launched his own fundraising offensive after Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination.
Now it appears Kamala Harris has at least caught up: Her campaign says new money came from 1.1 million donors, and her delegate tracker says she has enough delegates to win on the first ballot.
“I thank President Biden and all in the Democratic Party who have already placed their trust in me, and I look forward to making our case directly to the American people,” Harris said in a statement touting her delegate numbers.
As of early July, the Biden (now Harris) campaign had nearly $96 million officially raised, while the Trump campaign had $128 million. The totals are even higher if you count additional groups, such as national political parties and other allies.
The Trump campaign has not released any fundraising updates in recent days.
The new money that flowed in this week will go to Harris’ official campaign, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party’s joint fundraising committee.
A wave of other donors and possible lawsuits
Harris’ total in the world of super PACs, which can accept unlimited donations, could be even more staggering.
Future Forward, a major super PAC supporting Democrats, has received $150 million in donations in recent days, Politico reported.
Other big donors quickly weighed in. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Biden’s largest donor, quickly endorsed Harris, as did Dmitry Melhorn, a former colleague of Hoffman’s who is likely to remain influential among donors and has been arguing strongly in recent weeks that Joe Biden should stay in the race.
“With Scranton Joe out of office, I can’t wait to help elect Harris,” Melhorn gushed to Yahoo Finance just hours after Biden announced his withdrawal.
Deadline reports that Hollywood’s top donors are also quickly starting to give again after taking a break in recent weeks.
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware on July 22. (ERIN SCHAFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) (ERIN SCHAFF via Getty Images)
The new wave of money going to Harris comes as Republicans are preparing for an uphill legal fight to challenge whether she can access money raised when Biden was in the lead. Republicans are also preparing to challenge whether Kamala Harris’ name can appear on the ballot in battleground states.
The story continues
“In terms of the Republican attack, I think it’s coming,” Shanna Ports, senior legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, told Yahoo Finance this week about the Biden campaign’s campaign finance challenges, adding that it could be a losing battle and may take some time to resolve.
Any challenges must first be filed with the Federal Election Commission rather than in court, and on Sunday FEC Chairman Sean Cooksey posted a section of federal campaign finance law that states “contributions made for the general election shall be returned or refunded to the donors or reallocated or redesignated, as appropriate.”
But if Harris were to run, “the outcome would be different” because there are more election laws at play, Port said.
She said the additional legislation seems to suggest that if one of the two candidates withdraws, Harris would be able to keep the money because the vice president and president share a campaign committee and campaign coffers, and Harris would use it for the same purpose as Biden – to advance to the general election.
“The short answer is, it’s very complicated,” Cooksey, who was appointed by Trump and previously worked for Sen. Ted Cruz, told NPR in an interview Monday, suggesting the department will likely begin the process of resolving it soon.
The competition between the two fundraising giants
The full fundraising picture, and the outcome of the legal cases, won’t be known for at least several weeks, but one thing is certain: neither side is likely to run out of money in the 104 days between now and Election Day.
Donald Trump is no stranger to fundraising, raising nearly $250 million for his official campaign, with hundreds of millions more pouring into groups that support him. In recent months, the former president has forged new ties with a diverse community of donors, from Silicon Valley to Wall Street to energy CEOs.
Former president and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump appears with his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, at a campaign rally in Michigan on July 20. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) (JIM WATSON via Getty Images)
Trump has demonstrated his fundraising muscle among small donors in recent months and could receive further support from billionaires.
He has received financial backing from Wall Street figures like Blackstone (BX) CEO Steve Schwarzman and tech titans like Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, who reportedly could donate a massive $180 million to a Trump-aligned super PAC before the end of the election season.
Alexis Keenan contributed reporting. Ben Warschle is Yahoo Finance’s Washington correspondent.
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