Kamala Harris Deploys Election War Chest To Massively Outspend Donald Trump

The Kamala Harris campaign spent nearly three times as much money as her rival Donald Trump did in August, according to campaign finance filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
According to Federal Election Commission data, the vice president’s campaign spent $174 million in August, compared to $61 million by the Trump campaign, Reuters reported.
Both Harris and Trump said most of their money in August was spent on ads, with smaller sums paying for rallies, travel and campaign staff salaries. For the Harris campaign, media production and ad buys accounted for $137 million. For the Trump campaign, paid media accounted for $47 million, according to Politico
Harris ended August with $235 million on hand, just over what it had at the beginning of the month, while Trump ended the month with $135 million, down $17 million from the start of the month, according to Reuters.
Harris reported raising $190 million during the month of August and Trump reported taking in $45 million.
Newsweek has contacted the Harris and Trump campaigns for comment via email.
Since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in July, Harris has been met with a flood of donations, bringing in $200 million in her first week as a presidential candidate, Axios reported. She also raised $47 million in the first 24 hours following her first debate with Trump, which took place last week in Philadelphia.
But although Harris has a financial advantage over Trump, that does not mean it will deliver victory for the vice president, who is ahead of Trump in the national polls by a margin of 2.8 points as of Saturday, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polling average.
In the 2016 presidential contest, Trump defeated Hillary Clinton despite raising less money than the Democratic candidate.
Newsweek reported in early September that Trump had the upper hand in super PAC fundraising. As of September 4, PACs supporting Trump had raised $305.6 million since the start of 2024, compared to $199.2 million for PACs backing Harris. Major donors for Trump included billionaire Timothy Mellon and Linda McMahon, while Harris had received support from figures like former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman and philanthropist Melinda French Gates.
“Right now, far-right billionaires are dumping money into super PACs for ads meant to mislead and trick voters and tip the scale in their favor. And you are our last line of defense,” Harris’ campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, wrote in a Saturday email, seen by Newsweek, urging supporters to contribute. “We’ve built up a wave of momentum, but it is fragile. It will shatter if our fundraising dries up.”