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The stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White House
Kamala Harris’s campaign says it raised $310mn in July, eclipsing the funds raised by Donald Trump’s campaign last month, in a new sign that Democratic donors are eagerly jumping in to finance the vice-president’s White House bid.
The announcement on Friday by the Harris campaign came hours after Trump’s campaign revealed that it raised $139mn last month, as the former president became the subject of an assassination attempt, triggering an outpouring of sympathy for him, and the party held its convention in Wisconsin.
The surge in fundraising for Harris marks the latest twist in a battle for campaign funds that has accompanied the race for the White House this year.
While Trump was lagging behind in fundraising early this year, he had caught up in recent months, tapping wealthy Republicans from Silicon Valley to Wall Street to support his bid for a second term, even though some had supported other candidates in the primary contest.
But the Democrats are bouncing back. The Harris campaign had already said it had raised $200mn during the first week since Joe Biden dropped out of the race in favour of the vice-president on July 21, and the figures released on Friday show the fundraising performance was even stronger.
While the Trump campaign said it had $327mn cash on hand as of the end of July, the Harris campaign says it has $377mn cash on hand. Combined with Biden’s fundraising efforts before he dropped out, the Democrats have now raised more than $1bn for their presidential campaign.
The Harris campaign will be hoping that it can further boost its fundraising after the vice-president chooses her running mate in the next few days and they start campaigning together on Tuesday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In addition, the Democratic convention in Chicago that begins on August 19 will also be a chance to fill her campaign coffers. According to the FiveThirtyEight.com national polling average, Harris is leading Trump by 1.2 percentage points, whereas Biden was trailing Trump when he dropped out of the race.
The Harris campaign this week launched its first television advertising campaign focused on key battleground states to provide a contrast with the mounting attacks on the vice-president and her record from Trump.
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