Harris sets record for biggest fundraising quarter ever

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign set a record for the biggest fundraising quarter ever this fall, raising $1 billion in the three-month period that ended Sept. 30.

Harris’ campaign and its allied party committees said they raised $378 million in September alone, compared with the $160 million reported by former President Donald Trump’s campaign and allied groups.

Harris and her groups said they entered October with $348 million on hand; Trump’s aides said his campaign and its affiliated groups had $283 million.

The vast gap between Harris’ and Trump’s committees was laid bare in new filings made with the Federal Election Commission on Sunday evening. The figures show the state of the race as of the end of September, and they capture the fallout of the presidential debate that month, which Harris was widely perceived to have won.

The figures may be new but the story is familiar.

Each month since Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee, she has significantly outraised and outspent Trump, building a vastly bigger campaign than has the Republican nominee.

In September, the margin by which Harris’ principal campaign committee outraised Trump was nearly identical to the margin by which she outspent him — about 3.5 to 1.

Harris’ committee raised about $222 million in September, while Trump’s raised about $63 million. Harris’ committee entered October with about $187 million on hand; Trump’s committee had just about $120 million.

The vast majority of both campaign committees’ spending was on advertising. About $222 million of the $270 million that Harris’ campaign spent in September was on media buys and production costs. Trump spent about $53 million on media costs, a slightly smaller proportion of the $78 million that his campaign spent during that 30-day period.

The previous record for a fundraising quarter across all party committees is believed to have been set by Joe Biden in the third quarter of 2020, when his campaign and allied groups reported about $888 million in total fundraising, based on self-reported totals.

Both Harris and Trump, combined with their party committees, raised less in September 2024 than did the corresponding efforts in 2020. Harris’ $378 million was less than the record-setting $383 million that Biden’s team raised in September 2020. Trump’s $160 million in September 2024 is less than the $248 million he raised in September 2020.

Trump has consistently raised less money than during his last run for president, in part because his low-dollar fundraising apparatus is struggling to keep up with its pace four years ago. Harris, for her part, is doing better at fundraising than did Biden, who for a few months this year was raising less each month than Trump.

To deal with the cash crunch, the Trump campaign has recently been working to cut costs by offloading some traditional campaign expenditures, such as event-production fees and some salary costs, to party-affiliated committees.

The Republican National Committee entered October with $69.7 million on hand. The RNC disclosed spending about $3.5 million on payroll and taxes to about 340 staff members in September.

The Democratic National Committee had $46.6 million on hand, after spending some $102 million during September. The DNC disclosed spending $6 million on payroll and taxes to about 680 people that month, twice as many people.

Campaigns and party committees typically work to spend their cash down to zero, although both campaigns are aware that postelection litigation could require additional funds.

Given her cash advantage, Harris has been able to spend more of her time, a precious resource in these final weeks, campaigning — while Trump has had to spend time raising money in places like Texas and Florida, where he hosted a finance event last Wednesday. Trump has also scheduled a fundraising reception in New York preceding his coming rally at Madison Square Garden.

Harris can also spend more money on voter contact. She and her supporters are scheduled to outspend Trump and his backers on television and radio advertising by about 30% over the final two weeks of the campaign, according to data from AdImpact. (That is actually a smaller gap than the 60% spending advantage that the Democrats enjoyed over the Republicans in the past two weeks.)

Those supporters are primarily Harris’ enormous super political action committees. Harris’ team has labored to keep attention on the Republican billionaires funding Trump’s super PAC, but rarely discuses their own at Future Forward, the main big-money pro-Harris group. A few Democratic billionaires disclosed eight-figure checks to Future Forward in September: Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen gave about $10 million each, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois gave $5 million.

Trump’s super PACs disclosed most big supporters earlier last week, but the disclosures Sunday revealed new contributions by one of Trump’s strongest supporters. Timothy Mellon, the reclusive heir to the Gilded Age banking fortune, put $25 million more into a pro-Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc. Mellon has now donated a staggering $150 million this cycle to that group, which entered October with $59 million on hand. Trump’s recently appointed transition co-chair, Linda McMahon, also donated $5 million. The group entered October with $61 million on hand.

Another portrait of presidential fundraising will emerge Thursday, when campaigns and super PACs report money raised and spent through the first half of October.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2024 The New York Times Company