This combination of photos taken at campaign rallies in Atlanta shows Vice President Kamala Harris on July 30, 2024, left, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump on Aug. 3. Trump and Harris held the dueling rallies four days apart, but the dynamics showcased how deeply divided the American electorate is. The Harris crowd was majority Black and female. Trump’s crowd was overwhelmingly white. They listened to different music. They heard wildly different arguments on immigration, the economy, voting rights. Either Harris or Trump will win. The question is how widely the winner will be accepted. (AP Photo)
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign raised more than twice as much money in the Bartholomew County area in her first 10 days at the top of the Democratic ticket as former President Donald Trump’s campaign did during the entire month of July, according to new campaign finance filings.
Harris’ campaign reported raising $19,544 in Bartholomew County and the surrounding area in the 10-day stretch immediately after President Joe Biden announced on July 21 that he was abandoning his reelection bid and endorsing her for the Democratic Party’s nomination, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Overall, Harris’ campaign reported raising $26,716 in the local area, including Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson and Jennings counties, during the entire month of July. Of that, nearly 74% came after Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris.
By comparison, Trump’s campaign reported raising $8,863 in the local area during the entire month of July, including $2,781 in the 72 hours following a failed assassination attempt on July 13.
The records, which are current as of July 31, show that the newly minted Democratic presidential nominee far outraised Trump last month in several local cities and towns, including Columbus, Edinburgh, Nashville and North Vernon. Trump’s campaign far outraised Harris in Seymour.
Harris, who has not been at the top of the ticket for long, also has already raised more money locally than what some previous Democratic presidential nominees managed to do during an entire campaign, including former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, whose campaign reported raising a total of $26,474 in the Bartholomew County area during her entire 2016 presidential bid.
Earlier this month, Harris’s campaign announced that it raised $310 million last month, an eyepopping sum showing that donors who once seemed spooked about the prospects for November’s election with Biden are now offering mountains of cash to boost his former No. 2, The Associated Press reported.
The haul by Harris, the Democratic National Committee and affiliated entities far outpaced Republican former President Donald Trump, whose campaign and assorted committees said they took in $138.7 million for July, according to wire reports.
The vice president’s campaign also says it entered August with $377 million in cash on hand, which it described as the most for any presidential candidate at this point in the cycle, according to the AP. It was also well above the $327 million Trump’s team announced having to start the month.
Trump’s totals for July were augmented by an assassination attempt against the former president during a rally in Pennsylvania, which galvanized some of his fiercest supporters, and by his subsequent revealing of his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Currently, it is unclear if local contributions to Harris’ campaign will continue at the same pace during the final stretch of the race. Additionally, it is impossible to say whether the surge in local contributions will translate into more Democratic votes in November.
For instance, former President Barack Obama far outraised Republican nominee John McCain in the local area during the 2008 presidential race, yet McCain ended up carrying Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson and Jennings counties.
The last Democratic presidential candidate to carry Bartholomew County was Lyndon B. Johnson 60 years ago, who received 54% of the vote in the county over Republican Barry Goldwater. Since then, the only Democratic presidential candidates to receive more than 40% of the vote in the county were Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Obama in 2008.
