Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has raised $200 million since emerging as the top Democratic presidential candidate last week, a staggering amount for a Republican competing against former President Donald Trump.
The campaign, which released its latest fundraising totals on Sunday, said the majority of the donations – 66% – came from first-time donors in the 2024 election cycle and came after President Biden announced he was dropping out of the race and endorsed Harris.
And more than 170,000 volunteers have signed up to help the Harris campaign with phone banking, door-to-door canvassing and other get-out-the-vote activities with 100 days to go until Election Day.
“VP Harris's momentum and energy are real, and so are the fundamentals of this campaign: this election will be very close and will be decided by a small number of voters in just a few states,” campaign communications director Michael Tyler wrote in the memo.
Harris' campaign said it held about 2,300 organizing events in battleground states this weekend as several prominent Democrats who are being considered as her running mate campaigned for her.
Harris campaigned in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday, drawing hundreds of people to a fundraiser organized when Biden was still the leading Democratic candidate. The campaign said the event was initially expected to raise $400,000 but ultimately brought in about $1.4 million.
Mandy Robbins, 45, of Decatur, Georgia, drove to one of the organizing events in the northern Atlanta suburbs on Sunday to hear Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a possible running mate for Harris.
She thought Biden had “done a great job” in the White House but acknowledged that she “wouldn't have been as excited” if he had continued on in the campaign.
“I finally have some hope,” Robbins said, adding, “With Harris, we can win.”
Mr. Beshear spoke from experience to his supporters, saying their work could be the deciding factor in what is expected to be a close race. Mr. Beshear won the 2019 election by about 5,000 votes out of 1.41 million cast, and was comfortably re-elected in November.
“Every door knock mattered. Every phone call mattered. Every difficult conversation people had with their uncle at Thanksgiving mattered,” Beshear said of the 2019 election. “To all of you who are signing up to volunteer here today … you could make or break Vice President Harris' victory in this race.”
Meanwhile, President Trump, his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, and their surrogates have stepped up efforts to portray Harris as a far-left politician who is out of touch with mainstream America.
Speaking after a stop at a restaurant in Waite Park, Minnesota, on Sunday, Vance said he expected Harris to “gain a little momentum since being introduced” but that it would fade quickly.
“People are going to know her record,” Vance said, “and they're going to know that she's a radical. They're going to know that she's fundamentally a San Francisco liberal who wants to spread San Francisco policies across the country.”
Vance echoed Trump's comments. Campaigning with Vance in St. Cloud, Minnesota on Saturday, Trump called Harris a “crazy liberal,” accused her of wanting to “defund the police” and said she's an “absolute radical” on the issue of abortion. Harris, a vocal supporter of abortion rights, has made clear she will make Republican-backed efforts to restrict reproductive rights a central part of her campaign.
“There is no liberal horse that she would choose not to ride,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), a Trump ally, also sought to position Harris as a full ally in “many of the Biden administration's worst decisions,” including the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops in August 2021 that led to the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and military.
Cotton also accused Harris of embolden Iranian proxy groups Hamas and Hezbollah by pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over civilian casualties in the Gaza war.
Netanyahu met with Harris and Biden separately at the White House on Thursday. After the meeting, Harris said she called on Netanyahu to reach an early ceasefire agreement with the militant group Hamas to allow the return of dozens of hostages held by militants in the Gaza Strip since October 7. Harris also said she recognized Israel's right to self-defense, but expressed deep concern over the high death toll and “dire” humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
Tensions in the Middle East rose on Saturday after Israeli authorities said a rocket from Lebanon struck a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children and young people. The attack raised fears of a wider regional war between Israel and Hezbollah, which has denied any involvement in the attack.
Trump said at a rally on Saturday that the Golan Heights incident “will be remembered as another moment in history caused by a weak and incompetent president and vice president of the United States,” and Vance on Sunday accused Harris of “bumbling” on the conflict.
Still, some Republicans worry that Ms Harris's presence will embolden Democrats and force Mr Trump to change tack.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu said Harris is in a “honeymoon” period that will likely last a month, but he also said Trump and Vance should stop their personal attacks on Harris because they don't discourage people from voting. Sununu said Harris should focus on the issues and “stay away from the insults.”
Sununu said Trump missed an opportunity to do so in recent campaign rallies but “hopefully he can get back on track,” but Sununu acknowledged that “no one can make Donald Trump do anything he doesn't want to do.”
“But I am hopeful that the numbers and the polls will help Donald Trump understand what's worked and what's not worked,” Sununu said.
Graham appeared on CBS' “Face the Nation,” Sununu appeared on ABC's “This Week” and Cotton appeared on CNN's “State of the Union.”
Ticks, Barrow and Price are Associated Press reporters. Price reported from Waite Park, Minnesota, and Barrow from Forsyth County, Georgia. Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.
