Washington, Aug 2 (IANS): US Vice President Kamala Harris raised a record $310 million in July, her campaign announced on Friday, more than double of Trump campaign's $139 million haul for the same month.
July was an extraordinary month. First, it saw an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump who was crowned the Republican nominee for President days after, before sitting President Joe Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed his deputy Harris to take over the ticket.
July was also Harris’ first month as the Democratic party’s presumptive nominee for President. Her campaign’s announcement was replete with fundraising landmarks -- $200 million of the July haul came in just a week after Biden ended his bid and endorsed Harris.
Harris has raised $1 billion already for this election cycle, the fastest a presidential campaign has crossed the $1 billion-mark in the history of presidential elections. Additionally, the campaign has $377 million cash in hand, which is the largest ever war chest for this point in a presidential cycle.
The Trump campaign had on Thursday announced raising $139 million in July, which is itself a massive haul. It was a significant month for the campaign with the assassination attempt on the former President at an election rally, which triggered a wave of sympathy for him across the country, and the convention to nominate him for President, which usually pushes up popularity numbers.
Neither campaign has given the breakdown of how much was raised by the campaign itself and how much came from the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee and allied groups.
Fund-raising numbers are closely watched for what they say about the state of the campaign. Prior to July 21, when Biden made way for Harris, donations had fallen as Democrats debated if he was up for a second term given his dreadful performance in the first and only presidential debate thus far.
His exit threw open the floodgates for the Harris campaign, with two-thirds of the $310 haul coming from first-time donors, the campaign said.
“This is a history-making haul for a candidate who will make history this November,” said Harris for President Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.
“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.”
Harris stands to make history with a range of markers if she wins the presidential polls -- the first American woman, the first black woman, the first Asian American, and the first Indian American to get elected to the White House. She already has a string of firsts in the bag.
Harris’ elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket has reshaped the presidential race which was earlier tilting in the direction of Trump, who was widening his lead over Biden in the battleground states.
Harris has closed the gap significantly and is within the margin of error behind Trump -- she is at 46.5 per cent to Trump’s 47.7 per cent, separated by 1.2 percentage points, in the RealClearPolitics average of national polls.