Harris raises $200m and gets 170,000 volunteers in first campaign week
Kamala Harris raised $200m in the week since she was endorsed by Joe Biden, her team said, as the vice-president appears to be drawing increased enthusiasm to her campaign.
Harris for President said about 66% of the total came from first-time donors, as the campaign said it had seen “unprecedented grassroots support”.
On Sunday Al Gore, the former vice-president and a climate activist, endorsed Harris, while more than 170,000 volunteers have signed up to help the Harris campaign with phone banking, canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts, said Michael Tyler, the campaign’s communications director.
“Vice-President Harris has been a candidate for less than a week, but she’s already coalesced the entire Democratic party around her campaign and the organic, grassroots enthusiasm is producing results,” Tyler said.
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“From record-breaking fundraising to unprecedented crowds and volunteers pouring into field offices across the battlegrounds, Team Harris is fired up to elect the vice-president and defeat the extremist Trump-Vance ticket.”
It comes after Harris, who looks certain to be the Democratic presidential nominee, raised $81m in the 24 hours after she was endorsed by Biden, a record sum. The donation news comes after Harris attended a fundraiser in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday. The event had been organized when the president was still the presumptive nominee, and had originally been expected to raise $400,000, but ended up bringing in about $1.4m, according to the Harris campaign.
Future Forward, the largest Super Pac in Democratic politics, announced last week it had secured $150m in donations over the first 24 hours after Biden dropped out of the race.
Gore, who served as vice-president under Bill Clinton – who has also endorsed Harris – announced his endorsement on Sunday, in a boost to Harris’s environmental credentials. Harris has already been backed by several environmental groups, including Evergreen and Sierra Club.
“As a prosecutor, Kamala Harris took on Big Oil companies – and won. As vice president, she cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the most significant investment in climate solutions in history, the Inflation Reduction Act. That’s the kind of climate champion we need in the White House,” Gore said in a statement.
“With so much at stake in this year’s election – from strengthening democracy in the US and abroad, to expanding opportunity for the American people, to accelerating climate action – I’m proud to endorse Kamala Harris for president.”
Donald Trump was expected to attend a private fundraising event in Deal, New Jersey, on Sunday as he seeks to boost his own coffers. The main campaign account for Biden raised $64m in June, Reuters reported, compared to just $21m raised by the former president’s main account.
Biden’s fundraising reportedly took a hit after his disastrous debate performance on 27 June, however, meaning the donations to Harris will be crucial as she ramps up her campaign.
