How Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s Election War Chests Compare

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign announced that it has raised $540 million since she entered the race for the White House, building a formidable war chest for the election fight against former President Donald Trump
The campaign saw a surge in donations during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago earlier this week, where Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, accepted their nominations, campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon wrote in a memo released on Sunday.
“In just over a month since we launched our campaign, Team Harris-Walz raised $540 million—a record for any campaign in history,” she wrote in the memo.
“Just before Vice President Harris’ acceptance speech Thursday night, we officially crossed the $500 million mark. Immediately after her speech, we saw our best fundraising hour since launch day.”
The fundraising totals were raised by Harris for President, the Democratic National Committee, and joint fundraising committees, she wrote.
Trump’s campaign has also raked in significant amounts in donations, but appears to be lagging behind Harris’s numbers.
The Republican nominee’s campaign and related affiliates announced that they had raised $138.7 million in July and the Trump campaign reported having $327 million in cash on hand at the start of August.
Trump’s fundraising total for the whole month of July was less than half of what Harris’ campaign brought in during its early days in July. The vice president’s team reported raising $310 million in July and having $377 million cash on hand at the start of August.
Both the Harris and Trump campaigns have been contacted for comment via email.
In her memo, O’Malley Dillon wrote that about a third of donations to Harris’ campaign during the week of the convention came from first-time contributors. She also said the campaign signed up people for almost 200,000 volunteer shifts since the first day of the convention on Monday.
The campaign “is using those resources and enthusiasm to build on our momentum, taking no voters for granted and communicating relentlessly with battleground voters every single day between now and Election Day—all the while Trump is focused on very little beyond online tantrums and attacking the voters critical to winning 270 electoral votes,” she wrote.
Harris entered the race on July 21, when President Joe Biden quit his reelection bid under pressure from Democrats concerned about his ability to beat Trump following a disastrous performance in a June 27 debate.
Harris’ speech on Thursday capped a month of momentum for her candidacy, while Trump has appeared to struggle to adjust to his new rival. The first woman of color to top a major party’s presidential ticket, Harris has erased Trump’ polling lead since replacing Biden, but polls show the race remains tight.