Kamala Harris raised $200 million in first week of presidential campaign

Kamala Harris's campaign has raised a whopping $200 million after she emerged as the frontrunner for the Democrat presidential nominee last week. The donations have skyrocketed after President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid and endorsed Harris as the presidential candidate.

As of Sunday (Jul 28), the bulk of donations (66 per cent) came from first-time contributors in the 2024 election cycle.Additionally, over 170,000 volunteers have also signed up to help the Harris campaign which has only 100 days to take on rival, Donald Trump.

On Saturday (Jul 27), Haris campaigned in Pittsfield, Massachusettes where the fundraiser managed to raise approximately $1,4 million, shattering the earlier estimates of $400,000 by a countrymile.

“The momentum and energy for Vice President Harris is real — and so are the fundamentals of this race: this election will be very close and decided by a small number of voters in just a few states,” wrote Michael Tyler, Harris's campaign communications director.

While most Republicans had predicted Harris to be a weak candidate in front of Trump, her popularity in recent days has given a major scare to the GOP lawmakers.

Trump has also resorted to making personal jibes against the vice president, suggesting that the former president knew about the increasing threat.

“She was a bum three weeks ago.She was a bum, a failed vice president," said Trump on Friday (Jul 26).

Tide changing?

Trump also urged the Christian voters to come out and vote for him in large numbers, addingthey wouldn't have to do it again as he would 'fix' the system after coming to power.

“Christians, get out and vote. Just this time.You won’t have to do it anymore, you know what? Four more years, it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians," said the Republican presidential nominee.

"I love you, Christians. I’m a Christian. I love you, you got to get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote," he added.

Trump's pleading with his core voter base to come out in numbers might stem from the recent poll numbers that suggestHarris had reduced the deficit against him.

The latestWall Street Journalpoll showed Harris and Trump neck-and-neck at 49 per cent and 47 per cent in the two-way presidential battle. At the beginningof the month, Trump had a six-point lead against JoeBiden before the US president dropped his re-election bid and endorsed Harris.

(More to follow)