Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign raised more than three times as much money as President Donald Trump’s campaign in August, according to the latest figures released by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
The US vice president and the Democratic National Committee have seen $257m (£193m) flow into the fundraising pot, while the former president and the Republican National Committee have raised just $85m (£64m), meaning they have maintained an overwhelming fundraising advantage since Joe Biden withdrew from re-election in July and Harris became the party’s candidate for the White House.
Friday’s FEC announcement said Ms Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and the Democratic National Committee’s Democratic campaign team could manage $286 million (£215 million) in the final two months before the November 5 election – well above Mr Trump’s $214 million (£161 million).
Ms Harris’ financial advantage has led to a huge increase in spending: Federal Election Commission disclosures show that her and Waltz’s campaign spending reached $174m (£131m) last month, almost three times the $61m (£47m) that Mr Trump spent on the campaign.
If you combine campaign and national committee spending, the difference is less dramatic: Harris and the Democrats splurged $258m (£194m) on the presidential election last month, while Trump and the Republicans spent $121m (£91m) on campaign ads and expenses, $36m (£27m) more than they raised in the same month.
Meanwhile, tech tycoon Elon Musk has also made his biggest ever federal political donation, giving a total of $289,100 (£217,090) to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which supports Republican candidates for the US House of Representatives. The party narrowly controls the House of Representatives, but the Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate, where the two parties are locked in a fierce battle for control.
Harris’ campaign has a financial advantage and can flood the airwaves with ads, but national and battleground state polls show the race is very close. Both campaigns say the majority of their spending is on advertising, with smaller amounts going to rallies, travel and salaries for campaign staff.
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According to FEC records, the Harris campaign spent more than $135m (£101m) on media buys and ad production in August, $6m (£4.5m) on air travel, about $4.9m (£3.7m) on salaries and related taxes, and $4.5m (£3.4m) on text messages. The Harris campaign has at least 2,000 aides and 312 campaign offices across battleground states.
The Trump campaign has not provided comparable details about the scale of its campaign, which in August spent more than $47m (£35m) on advertising, $10.2m (£7.7m) on direct mail to potential voters and about $670,000 (£503,000) on air travel.
The financial disclosures come amid intriguing interpretations of how each candidate might reach the 270-electoral-vote threshold. If Harris wins the northern battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina but loses the Sun Belt battleground states of Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, the 2024 election could come down to Nebraska, where five electoral votes are apportioned pro rata, but Republicans are pushing to change that to a winner-take-all system.
