Vice President Kamala Harris raised four times more campaign funds than former President Donald Trump in the most recent election cycle.
The fundraising gap speaks to Harris’s growing influence and broad appeal, making her arguably the dominant force in the political landscape as the race for the White House continues to heat up.
While it is evident from campaign finance filings that Harris has received a significantly higher amount of money than Trump, her campaign may discuss its interactions with a range of donors, from high-profile fundraisers to small-dollar grassroots supporters.
Analysts point to ways in which Harris has been particularly effective with young voters and communities of women and minorities and has a policy platform and the power of being the first female and Black-Asian Vice President.
“Kamala Harris has raised this amount of money and is a significant player in the Democratic Party,” political consultant Melissa Wright said. “This will energize a diverse coalition of supporters.” She will have a major advantage in developing infrastructure, producing campaign advertisements, and organizing voters thanks to her financial advantage.
On the flip side, Trump’s fundraising remains only satisfactory, not at par compared to the previous election cycles in which he had benefited from a strong grassroots movement as well as large sums from high net-worth donors.
According to political observers, ongoing legal cases and controversies concerning his post-presidency seem to have handicapped his ability to raise sufficient funds. In his mind though, Trump is confident about the loyalty of his base and has downplayed the financial gap.
At a recent event, Trump declared, “That’s about the people, not about the dollars .” “We’ve done it once, and we’ll do it again. We are unstoppable.”
Although Harris has been confidently espousing lately, the fundraising gap is pretty dramatic. Harris’s campaign will probably be funneling all kinds of resources into battleground states, ramping up her ground game and online presence. This means that with such an advantage in funding, Harris is likely better positioned to build a robust campaign than Trump is likely to face.
The financial gap will probably play an important role in both camps’ strategies as the election approaches: Harris will benefit from the infusion of resources that might otherwise have made a great difference in the narrow contest.
