The Harris campaign is off to a strong start.Brian Cahn/ZUMA
It’s hard to believe it was only a week ago that President Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek re-election and endorsed the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris instead.
Also jarring: In these past seven days, the Harris campaign has raised $200 million. In a memo released Sunday, the campaign said the majority of those funds—66 percent—came from first-time donors, which they characterized as “further proof of the tremendous grassroots support” for Harris. As my colleague Russ Choma wrote earlier this week, at least $81 million was raised in the first 24 hours of the campaign.
Much of the support also came from multiracial coalitions: As I wrote earlier this week, Black women are already proving to be a crucial fundraising force for Harris, having raised $1.5 million in a three-hour Zoom call on the campaign’s first night. Virtual fundraising calls were also held for Black men supporting Harris, who reportedly raised $1.3 million; LGBTQ voters, who reportedly raised more than $300,000; and white women, who reportedly raised $8.5 million following a Thursday night call. The campaign has also seen more than 170,000 new volunteers sign on this week, its memo said.
Early polls suggest the Trump campaign should not underestimate this early enthusiasm for Harris. A Fox News poll released this week found that voters in the battleground state of Pennsylvania preferred Harris to Trump by 45 to 43 percent in a hypothetical matchup including third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Jill Stein. The two-way matchup found Harris and Trump tied at 49 percent. Other polls—from the New York Times, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal—put Trump between one to three points ahead of Harris, but show his lead shrinking compared to the six-point lead he had against Biden following their first debate.
Still, there are 100 days until the election. And as the past month has shown, anything can happen in that amount of time (or less).
