Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign said it raked in a whopping $310 million in its July fundraising efforts – more than double the amount raised by her Republican rival last month – and has $377 million cash on hand, marking the latest sign of how transformative and energizing the change to the top of the Democratic ticket has been among grassroots and high-dollar supporters.
A majority of that $310 million haul, more than $200 million, was raised in the first week of Harris’ candidacy, the campaign said in a statement, with two-thirds of the fundraising coming from first-time donors to the campaign.
President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection on July 21, endorsing Harris the same afternoon. Harris swiftly consolidated support among the party and had secured enough delegate endorsements to win the nomination the following night.
Prior to Biden’s decision to step aside, Democratic donors had expressed deep concerns about the president’s viability as a candidate, holding back big checks and standing down on planned fundraising events.
The July numbers signal a remarkable turnaround and more than double former President Donald Trump’s fundraising this month: the Trump campaign announced Thursday that its political operation had raised $138.7 million in July, with $327 million cash on hand.
Even so, July was a strong fundraising month for Trump that saw him accept his party’s nomination at the Republican National Convention, announce his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, and survive an assassination attempt.
The July haul was the second month in a row that Democrats have outraised Trump’s team, and the surge in donations lifted Democratic fundraising above the $1 billion mark – the fastest a campaign has crossed that threshold in presidential history, according to Harris’ team.
The Harris campaign said July also marked the “best grassroots fundraising month in presidential history” with 94% of its donations falling under $200.
“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 mobilized, growing, and ready to put in the work to defeat Trump this November,” Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement, adding that the campaign’s money “is going to the work that wins close elections.”
The campaign also highlighted some key demographic trends it saw in July donations: more than 10 times the number of Gen Z donors contributed compared to June, and more than eight times the number of millennial donors than the previous month. Sixty percent of donors, the campaign noted, were women. And as several coalition groups have held organizing Zoom calls in recent days, the campaign noted that groups “like Black Women for Harris, Latinas for Harris, and yes, White Dudes for Harris raised more than $20 million for Team Harris.”
Harris’ team has more than 260 coordinated campaign offices and more than 1,400 coordinated campaign staff in battleground states, it said.
The money raised by Harris’ political operation in July falls short of the record high set in September 2020 when Biden’s campaign and the Democratic Party raised $383 million, but it underscores how much her surprise candidacy swiftly changed the fundraising trajectory for the party.
The challenge ahead for Harris: sustaining the blistering fundraising pace.
“These are unprecedented amounts to be raising in such a short timeframe,” Brendan Glavin – deputy research director at OpenSecrets, which tracks political money – said of the $200 million Harris raised in the first week of her candidacy. But, he added, “the campaign will have to maintain momentum and convince donors to keep giving throughout the fall, when fundraising is traditionally at its peak.”