Kamala Harris pulled in over $55 million during two events this weekend meant to boost her presidential campaign’s coffers ahead of the August primary, a campaign official said on Sunday. The Democratic candidate and U.S. vice president raised $27 million at a fundraising event at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco on Saturday that featured remarks by former House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a performance by “Rise” singer Andra Day, the official added.
At a New York event following the Bay Area gathering, Harris urged attendees to stay engaged in what she called her margin-of-error race with former President Donald Trump. She pledged to fight for a middle class that includes working families and to sign legislation establishing federal protection for abortion rights. She received rousing applause when she warned that Trump’s return to the White House would have dire and dangerous consequences for the nation’s future.
The hefty hauls come from a recent poll that showed that most Democratic voters view the economy as one of their top concerns, even though many have little confidence that Harris or any other potential Democrat nominee could handle the issue better. Voters also place a premium on candidates’ plans to improve the lives of ordinary people, with most saying they want to see candidates who would ban fracking and establish a universal single-payer health care system, according to the poll.
Harris’ aides say she is in a solid position to win the nomination and take on Trump, even though some Democratic strategists doubt her ability to compete with pricey advertising by deep-pocketed outside groups backing the Republican. The Harris team has made a big push for money since Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her, but it is still being determined whether that will be enough to overcome Trump’s formidable fundraising machine.
Democrats’ digital fundraising website ActBlue has processed more than $90 million in donations since Sunday, the day Biden ended his campaign and threw her his support, according to a live ticker on the company’s website. The campaign has also said that it received $150 million in new commitments from donors who were stalled or uncertain about where they stood with Harris.
Earlier on Sunday, the Harris campaign held an invitation-only conference call with prominent donors and bundlers, including California’s lieutenant governor and top fundraiser, Eleni Kounalakis, California Democratic Party chair Eric Holder, and Sheila Nix, Harris’ chief of staff.
