The secrets of Harris’s $1bn fundraising campaign to help her outspend Trump
They come like a never-ending tsunami, arriving at all hours of the day and night. Some are sent by e-mail, others by text, and a few by old-fashioned snail mail. They are the relentless, dramatic messages from Vice President Kamala Harris, seeking additional funding for her campaign to beat former president Donald Trump.
In the months since Joe Biden abandoned his quest for re-election, Harris has emerged as the most significant generator of funds for the Democratic Party since Barack Obama first energised grassroots supporters and persuaded them to dig deep in their wallets in the presidential race of 2008.
Harrisâs campaign has already netted more than $1bn in donations. But as election day approaches, she is inundating voters for more money with never-ending messages that, by design, sound increasingly desperate.
Her campaign no longer announces fundraising totals, for fear that once supporters realise the size of her war chest, they will stop lavishing even more cash on her.
âIf the election were held today, we might very well lose,â claimed one e-mail sent on Sunday from âHarris-Walz HQâ.
âAt risk of falling short of our organising goals this weekend,â thundered another email.
Lest recipients had not fully realised the alleged gravity of the situation, a third Sunday e-mail blast was titled âWe canât take on these last few weeks of the election without supportersâ.
A final Sunday missive began with the words âReally, only if you canâŚâ
âHave you seen the latest polls out of Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina?â asked Mondayâs first fundraising e-mail of the new week.
âThe New York Times shows Trump leading in all three key states,â warned âKamala HQâ, in a fresh effort to secure more financial support from the Democratic Partyâs grassroots.
By text, the campaign can sound even more desperate. âHey, itâs Doug,â reads one text sent in the name of Harrisâs husband, Doug Emhoff.
âFor my birthday, I have a very simple ask: Will you help the campaignâŚ? Whether you can commit $5 or $50, it would all go to countering disinformation, defeating Trump and electing Democrats,â promises the Second Gentleman.
How donations are spent
Kamala Harris for President, the main political action committee (PAC) supporting Kamala Harris, has spent $305.5m (ÂŁ233.3m) on advertising this year, i analysis of Federal Election Commission data found.
Another $2.8m has been spent on administrative costs, $1.7m on travel and $1.4m on fundraising.
The two main PACs supporting Donald Trump â Donald J Trump for President 2024 and the Donald J Trump Republican Nominee Fund â have spent $67.6m on adverts.
An extra $28.3m has been spent on admin costs, $3.1m on travel and $1.2m on fundraising.
Democrats have spent $1.1bn in aired adverts and future reservations since Harris announced her presidential candidacy in late July, according to AdImpact and Digiday.
Republicans spent $400m during the same period, from 22 July to 9 October.
More than three-quarters of the money (79 per cent) from both campaigns was focused on seven key battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. These states are set to receive 88 per cent of future reservations from 10 October until election day.
Democrats also outspent Republicans on Facebook and Google adverts, spending about $200m on each, compared with $50m and $100m respectively by the Trump campaign, according to AdImpact and the Washington Post.
But when it comes to political adverts on X, accounts backing Republican candidates spent three times more than those backing Democrats â $3m to $1m â from 6 March to 1 October.
Birthdays currently appear to be top-of-mind within the Vice Presidentâs household. âKamala Harrisâ birthday is NEXT SUNDAY! We canât send her an empty card,â insisted another text sent on Sunday.
Between last Friday and Sunday night, Democrats in Washington DC received a total of 29 text messages urging donations to the Harris campaign or political action committees supporting it.
To be clear, Trumpâs campaign is also extremely active in the money-raising stakes, but the velocity, number and guile of Harrisâ aggressive pitches for cash currently outpace the Republican effort.
There is also a contradiction between the optimism Harrisâs campaign exudes publicly about the outcome of the election, and the desperation for cash expressed by the fund-raising operation.
In public, Harris campaign aides routinely tell reporters they are âlooking at the wrong pollsâ when questions arise about the Vice Presidentâs standing in key battleground states.
The Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams regularly emphasises favourable polling in his social media posts, and top Democratic strategists claim the Vice President is on course for a substantial victory in November.
But the Democratsâ fundraising operation appears to be playing deliberately to anxiety among grassroots supporters that a second Trump administration is not only possible, it is already looming on the horizon.
That may not only be an effort to secure cash, but also a key element of the Harris campaignâs get-out-the-vote campaign: tell people by e-mail and text that victory is at risk, and they are more likely to show up at the polls than if they believe Harrisâ victory is in the bag.
With $1bn already banked, the Harris campaign has out-raised Trump by at least $150m, with that gap expected to widen in the campaignâs closing days.
Fewer than a third of the Republicanâs campaign contributions have come from donors who gave less than $200, down from nearly half of all donations in Trumpâs 2020 race, according to analysis by the Associated Press and OpenSecrets, an organisation that tracks political spending.
Republican officials and activists say a key issue with persistent fundraising requests from campaigns and committees have led voters questioning whether their money is going to Trump â someone who has signed up to receive emails from the former president could get emails from a host of Republican candidates, raising skepticism about where their money is actually going.
The dip has forced Trump to rely more on wealthy donors and groups, AP reported.
The cash supports not only daily campaign activities, including record expenditure on Harrisâs targeted TV and digital advertising, but also the staffing of offices in the key battleground states where supporters are now focused on getting Democrats to the polls.
The fundraising juggernaut continues to roll, emulating strategies previously the preserve of televangelists in America.
âWait. Please Donât Click Away,â begged the âHarris Victory Fundâ on Monday as it told supporters that âVice President Harris has set a critical fund-raising goalâ of another $1m âand is counting on your contribution right nowâ.