Kamala Harris is pulling in serious cash from Wall Street and Silicon Valley, with her campaign netting nearly $5 million a day.
This financial surge is giving her the firepower to go on the offensive against Donald Trump as the election approaches. And the little love affair just might win her the election.
With the Democratic National Committee backing her, Harris is outspending Trump and the Republican Party by a margin of three-to-one daily.
In August, she spent an average of $7.5 million a day, compared to his $2.6 million.
Her ability to raise money from wealthy donors since taking over from Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee has solidified her position as the financial frontrunner, something the Democrats had lost earlier in the year.
Wall Street’s role in Harris’ surge
Harris has ramped up spending even more in September, laying out $152 million on advertising, a 21% jump from August. In comparison, Trump is spending just $63 million on ads.
Polls show that Harris has made up huge ground on the lead Trump had built over Biden, with a slight edge in swing states. But still, the race remains tight, and every dollar counts.
Donors like Oaktree Capital’s Bruce Karsh, oil trader Andy Hall, and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz have thrown their money behind her too. Even actress Scarlett Johansson is chipping in.
These donors have given Harris a clear financial edge, allowing her to push millions into key states like North Carolina and Nevada, areas where Trump was previously confident.
By the start of September, Harris had $404 million in her campaign war chest, compared to Trump’s $295 million.
Trump’s campaign has been forced to go into defense mode, spending $32 million more than it raised in August just to stay competitive.
But despite these challenges, the team claims they have enough funds to see them through to Election Day.
The gap in funding is even bigger when it comes to super PACs. Harris and the outside groups supporting her are set to spend $559 million on advertising from Labor Day until the election, compared to $306 million from pro-Trump PACs.
In all seven swing states, Democrats are outspending Republicans.
Harris’ financial strategy
$140 million out of the $225 million spent by Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee was on ads. Trump and the Republican Party spent only $48 million.
Harris’ outreach to Wall Street became even more visible when she gave former American Express CEO Ken Chenault a prominent speaking role at the Democratic National Convention.
Trump’s tax cuts and pro-business policies had initially drawn support from this crowd, but Harris’ campaign is making inroads.
Finance executives close to Harris have also expressed relief that she might appoint more business-friendly officials to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Both agencies are currently led by officials who take an aggressive regulatory approach. Harris’ camp has denied these claims, saying she only discusses policy, not personnel.
The battle for swing states
Harris is also pulling ahead in national polls and gaining ground in key swing states. Daniella Ballou-Aares, founder of the Leadership Now Project, rallied over 70 business leaders to endorse Harris last month.
“Her line on ‘I’m a capitalist and we need to recognize the good actors’ is the right direction. This administration has potential for engagement,” Ballou-Aares said.
Harris describes herself as both a supporter of workers and unions, and a capitalist who believes in free and fair markets.
Harris’ ground game is also strong. She’s got more than 333 campaign offices and over 2,200 staffers spread across battleground states.
Volunteers are handling phone banking and canvassing, giving her a wide-reaching voter outreach strategy.
On the other side, Trump’s campaign has been outsourcing its field operations to outside groups like America PAC, which is run by Elon Musk.
America PAC spent $15.5 million on canvassing for Trump in August and $25.8 million since Harris became the Democratic nominee. But Trump still has some support from major players in finance.
Citadel founder Ken Griffin, who supported Republican Nikki Haley earlier in the year, is pro-Trump now. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon made a lot of favorable comments about Trump earlier this year too.
