Team Harris raise record USD 310 million in July for campaign against Trump

Washington, Aug 2 (PTI) Kamala Harris has raised a record USD 310 million in July, her campaign said on Friday, as the presumptive Democratic Party nominee stepped up her election campaign against her Republican Party rival Donald Trump in the US presidential election.
     Comparatively, the rival Trump campaign of the Republican Party raised USD 138.7 million in July and has USD 327 million cash on hand.
     Vice President Harris, 59, is the only candidate who has filed paperwork to be the nominee of the Democratic Party for the November 5 presidential elections after her boss and incumbent President Joe Biden on July 20 announced his withdrawal from the race and endorsed her as the candidate.
     “With today’s announcement, Team Harris has already raised over USD 1 billion this cycle, the fastest a presidential campaign has crossed the USD 1 billion threshold in presidential history,” the Harris Campaign said Friday.
     “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 mobilised, growing, and ready to put in the work to defeat Trump this November,” said Harris for President campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.
     If elected on November 5 to succeed President Biden, Harris – the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother – would not only be the first woman, but the first Indian-American, the first Asian, the first Black woman and the first person of Jamaican descent to ascend to the office.
     “Our money is going to the work that wins close elections – whether it be an organiser knocking doors in DeKalb County, a rural office opening in Pennsylvania, or a college student tabling at a club fair. It is the product of a campaign and coalition that knows the hard work and fighting spirit needed to win in November – and when we fight, we win,” she said.
     The USD 377 million in cash on hand is the largest ever war chest at this point in the cycle and USD 50 million more than the Trump team’s post-July cash on hand.
     July’s USD 310 million haul was also the strongest grassroots month in presidential campaign history and was powered by a surge in new support. Two-thirds of the record-shattering haul came from first-time donors, the campaign said, adding that it is further proof of the tremendous support for Harris.
     Additionally, the vast majority of July’s raise came from grassroots donors, and eight of the campaign’s ten best grassroots fundraising days came in July, it said.
     According to the Harris Campaign, July was the best grassroots fundraising month in presidential history. Team Harris raised more across grassroots channels in the four days following President Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Harris than Trump’s big donor-reliant operation raised in the entire month, it said.
     More than three million donors made over 4.2 million contributions – with more than two million donors making their first donation this cycle.
     Team Harris also grew its sustaining donor base – grassroots supporters that are committed to donating regularly to the campaign – by more than 50 per cent, growing to nearly half a million donors.
     “This month, 94 per cent of all our donations were under USD 200, and teachers and nurses continue to be among the most common donor occupations,” the campaign said.
     "From historic grassroots fundraising to hundreds of thousands of new volunteers, one thing is clear as Vice President Harris continues to prosecute the case against convicted felon Donald Trump – voters are fired up and ready to beat Trump again this November,” said Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison.
     “The majority of this grassroots fundraising came from first-time donors who have been inspired to chip in to support Vice President Harris' historic candidacy. Their grassroots dollars will translate to more offices across the country, more staff engaging directly with voters, and more opportunities for us to take our message directly to voters about what is at stake in this election. We can't and won't go back, and this past month made it clear that the American people agree," he said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)