Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party’s prodigious fundraising operation raised more than $1 billion in her loss to Donald Trump, but the vice president is still pushing for more money from donors after the election.
Democrats are sending persistent appeals to Harris’ supporters, without explicitly asking them to cover any debts, and are instead luring potential donors with other issues: the Republican president-elect’s picks for his incoming administration and a handful of ongoing congressional races where the votes are still taking place. added up.
“The Harris campaign certainly spent more than they raised and is now busy raising money,” said Adrian Hemond, a Democratic strategist from Michigan. He said he was asked by the campaign after the Trump loss to help with fundraising.
The party is flooding Harris’ lucrative email donor list with almost daily appeals targeting small-dollar donors — those whose contributions are measured in the hundreds of dollars or less. But Hemond said post-election efforts also include individual appeals to larger donors.
The battle now underscores the costs associated with a losing effort and the immediate challenges Democrats face as they try to maintain a grassroots political operation to thwart the Trump administration and prepare for the midterm elections 2026. It also raises the question of how Democrats used their resources, which included hosting events with musicians and other celebrities and placing ads in a variety of non-traditional spaces such as the domed Sphere in Las Vegas.
Internally, the apparent cash crunch is being blamed on the campaign’s decision to stop paying many senior staffers starting Saturday, even those who were initially told they would be paid through the end of the year. Facing internal frustration, the campaign informed those affected in recent days that their health insurance would be covered until the end of the year, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share internal discussions.
Another person familiar with the Democratic National Committee’s fundraising and finances said the Harris campaign’s projected deficit is a relatively small amount compared to the size of the campaign, which reported that in mid-October before the election November 5, $119 million cash was available. . This person was not authorized to publicly discuss campaign finances and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Patrick Stauffer, chief financial officer for the Harris campaign, said in a statement that “there were no outstanding debts or delinquent accounts” on Election Day and that “no debts” will be listed for the campaign or the DNC in their next financial disclosures . , which will be submitted to the Federal Election Commission in December.
