WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has raised $200 million since she emerged as the likely Democratic presidential nominee last week, an eyepopping haul in her race against the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.
The campaign, which announced its latest fundraising total on Sunday, said the bulk of the donations — 66% — comes from first-time contributors in the 2024 election cycle and were made after President Joe Biden announced his exit from the race and endorsed Harris.
Over 170,000 volunteers have also signed up to help the Harris campaign with phone banking, canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts. Election Day is 100 days away.
“The momentum and energy for Vice President Harris is real — and so are the fundamentals of this race: this election will be very close and decided by a small number of voters in just a few states,” Michael Tyler, the campaign's communications director, wrote in a memo.
Harris campaigned in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday, drawing hundreds to a fundraiser that had been organized when Biden was still at the top of the Democratic ticket. The fundraiser had originally been expected to raise $400,000 but ended bringing in about $1.4 million, according to the campaign.
Harris quickly coalesced Democratic support after Biden, whose candidacy fizzled following his disastrous June 27 debate performance against Trump, exited the race. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were quick to announce their support.
Prodigious Democratic fundraisers former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama announced their endorsement on Friday.
Harris at her Saturday fundraiser said she remained the “underdog” in the race but that her campaign was picking up steam.
Meanwhile, Trump, running mate Sen. JD Vance and their surrogates have stepped up efforts to frame Harris as a far-left politician out of touch with with the American mainstream.
Vance said after a stop at a diner in Waite Park, Minnesota, on Sunday that Harris has “got a little bit of a bump from her introduction” but predicted it would soon dissipate.
“Look, the people are going to learn her record,” Vance said. “They’re going to learn that she’s a radical. They’re going to learn that she’s basically a San Francisco liberal who wants to take San Francisco policies to the entire country.”
Vance was echoing Trump, who in a campaign appearance with Vance in St. Cloud, Minnesota on Saturday, called Harris a “crazy liberal,” accused her of wanting to “defund the police” and said she was an "absolute radical” on abortion. The vice president, a vocal proponent of abortion rights, has made clear that she will make Republican-backed efforts to restrict reproductive rights a key plank in her campaign.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Harris is “a nice person, but she’s incredibly liberal.”
“If you expect Vice President Harris to change the course we’re on as a nation, you’re going to be sadly disappointed,” he said. “There is no liberal horse that she has chosen not to ride.”
Trump backer Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., also tried to brand Harris as a full partner for “a lot of the worst decisions of the Biden administration," including the chaotic August 2021 pullout of U.S. troops led to the swift collapse of the Afghan government and military.
Cotton also accused Harris of emboldening Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah by pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over civilian casualties in the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu met separately with Harris and Biden at the White House on Thursday. Afterward, Harris said she urged Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire deal soon with the militant group Hamas so that dozens of hostages held by the militants in Gaza since Oct. 7 can return home. Harris said she also affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself but expressed deep concern about the high death toll in Gaza and the “dire” humanitarian situation there.
Tensions in the Mideast intensified on Saturday after Israeli authorities said a rocket from Lebanon struck a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teenagers. The strike raised fears of a broader regional war between Israel and Hezbollah, which denied a role in the attack.
“Frankly, it emboldens Iran and terrorist groups like Hezbollah because they believe that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will continue to put more pressure on Israel than it puts on Iran and its terrorists that are encircling Israel with the stated objective to destroy Israel,” Cotton said of the calls from Biden and Harris for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Trump at his Saturday rally said the Golan Heights incident “will go down as another moment in history created by a weak and ineffective United States president and vice president.” And Vance on Sunday accused Harris of being “a disaster” on the conflict.
Still, some Republicans are concerned that Harris' entrance has given Democrats a spark and that Trump needs to recalibrate.
Gov. Chris Sununu, R-N.H., said Harris is in “honeymoon” period that will probably last a month, but he also acknowledged that both Trump and running mate JD Vance should stop the personal attacks against Harris because those will not drive people to vote. Instead, he said they must stick to the issues and “stay away from the insults.”.
He said Trump missed an opportunity to do that in recent campaign events, but “hopefully they can get back on track. I think he was on track for a couple months there. I think that the change in the campaign has kind of fired him up to go against her, personally.”
But Sununu also acknowledged that, ”nobody can get Donald Trump to do anything. But hopefully the numbers, the polls, will get Donald Trump to realize what was working and what didn’t.”