Trump lags behind Harris in fundraising and ad spending as election nears

Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris’s campaign outraised her Republican counterpart, Donald Trump, in August, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data. The FEC data shows that Harris’s campaign raised $189 million during the month, quadrupling the $44 million that Trump’s campaign received in the same period.

The data, which only covers funds in the candidates’ main campaign accounts, highlights the increasing support for Harris as the election draws near. However, the total funding raised by each candidate, including their Party committees, shows that the Harris team still raised more money last month.

According to an announcement from Harris’s campaign earlier this month, it raised $361 million in August from all campaign donations, including the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the joint fundraising committees. By comparison, Trump’s campaign and the Republican Joint Convention (RNC) joint fundraising committees only raised $130 million.

This disparity in fundraising continues a trend that started when Harris replaced Biden as the Democrats’ flagbearer. Before then, Trump and the Republicans led fundraising for months, but Harris, as the presidential candidate, has changed that.

Harris’s campaign outspending Trump

With Harris raising more money than Trump, it is unsurprising that her campaign has also been outspending Trump on advertising and overall campaign expenses. The FEC filings also show that Harris and the DNC spent $258 million in August, far higher than the $121 million from Trump and the RNC.

Despite spending more than Trump in August, Harris’s campaign is still in a better financial position, with $404 million in cash versus Trump’s $295 million. Many believe the higher cash war chest could allow the vice president’s team to intensify its efforts in the final months.

However, the Trump team also claims that it has sufficient funds and momentum for the final phase of the campaign. Brian Hughes, the senior advisor for the Trump Campaign, noted that fundraising numbers remain very good, showing the campaign has momentum.

Meanwhile, Harris’s campaign continued to see more donations in September thanks to her performance in the presidential debates, where many political analysts believe she outperformed Trump. In the 24 hours following the debate, the Harris campaign received $47 million from nearly 600,000 donors.

Harris has already signed up for another CNN debate on October 24, but the likelihood of facing Trump in that debate remains slim. The former president said he would not participate in any more debates and rejected participation in the CNN debate because it would come very late when early voting had already started in some states.

Crypto undecided on Trump and Harris

Meanwhile, the crypto industry remains undecided about who to support between Harris and Trump. Trump seems to enjoy popular support, particularly because of his clear stance on the industry and his promises to implement policies that will favor the industry if elected.

However, he is no longer the obvious choice that he was when Biden was the candidate. Data from the blockchain-based prediction market Polymarket shows that Harris has a 51% odds of winning the elections while Trump has 49% odds. This is partly due to her performance in the debate and speculations that she might be pro-crypto.

Former White House director of communications Anthony Scaramucci recently said at the Token2049 conference that he is part of a group of crypto advocates advising Haris on her policies for digital assets ahead of the elections.

He said:

“There’s a group of cryptocurrency advocates, bitcoin advocates etc. that are working alongside her to distance the Democratic Party away from Elizabeth Warren and [Gary Gensler].”

Still, Harris’s failure to publicly state her stance on the crypto industry has left many uncertain about how her administration would approach it.