Harris donations top $100m after Biden's exit from presidential race
- Published
Democrats have poured more than $100m (£77m) in donations into Vice-President Kamala Harris' presidential bid since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, her campaign says.
The tally was boosted by what her team calls a record 24-hour period of fundraising - $81m raised.
During that timeframe, more than 888,000 people donated sums of up to $200 each, according to progressive donation platform ActBlue.
Donors who had pulled back their funding over concerns about Mr Biden’s age have said they now intend to resume their support for the party.
The surge in donations in the 24-hour period after Mr Biden quit the race was the single biggest for online contributions to Democrats since 2020, according to the New York Times.
That was when ActBlue raised $73.5m after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
The new funds mark a significant turn for the Democratic party, which had seen support erode from major donors after Mr Biden’s poor performance in June’s presidential debate against Donald Trump.
Grassroots funding from small donors had also diminished, according to Biden campaign insiders cited in US media.
But soon after Mr Biden’s announcement to drop out of the race and his endorsement of Ms Harris’ bid for the White House, Democrats went online to contribute at a startling pace.
“Grassroots supporters are energized and excited to support (Ms Harris) as the Democratic nominee,” ActBlue wrote on X.
Win With Black Women, a group of black women leaders, held a Zoom call with more than 44,000 participants on Sunday night to throw their support behind the vice-president.
The group said it raised over $1.5m in three hours for her presidential campaign.
Joe Cotchett, a San Francisco-based political fundraiser for the Democrats, told NBC News that donors “are now ready to dig into their pockets".
Among them is Gideon Stein, president of the Moriah Fund and a donor for the party, who told the US news outlet that he would resume his funding after having paused it because of concerns over Mr Biden’s electability.
Several high-profile political donors have also indicated their support for Ms Harris as the Democratic party nominee.
Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, called the vice-president "the right person at the right time".
"I wholeheartedly support Kamala Harris and her candidacy for President of the United States in our fight for democracy in November," he said in a post on X.
Another big name political donor, Alexander Soros, the son of philanthropist George Soros, said Ms Harris was "the best and most qualified candidate we have".
But others, like entrepreneur and investor Vinod Khosla, called for an open process at the convention and "not a coronation".
"The key still is who can best beat Trump above all other priorities," he wrote on X.
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, known to be a Democratic megadonor, previously told the New York Times Biden should step down as the Democratic party nominee.
"Dem delegates need to pick a swing state winner," he wrote on X on Sunday following Mr Biden's announcement.
More on the US election
SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
SWING STATES: Where the election could be won and lost
EXPLAINER: RFK Jr and others running for president