Donors from Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Hollywood fueled Vice President Kamala Harris’ fundraising boom in August, giving Democrats a $109 million money advantage over Republican Donald Trump ahead of the most costly period of the presidential election, in accordance with recent filings from the U.S. Election Commission.
Although polls show the race is amazingly close, Harris has the sting within the hunt for money. She boosted her war chest in August by raising $361 million, while Trump spent $32 million greater than the $130 million he raised as he launched a costly promoting campaign to slow her momentum. His allied Super Political Action Committee has also drained a few of its money reserves.
Trump received support from latest sources, including crypto industry donors, whom he has eagerly courted, and a few longtime Republican donors who’ve only recently begun supporting him, reminiscent of hedge fund manager Paul Singer, who had not supported his previous campaigns.
The filings include the biggest reported single donation from Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX. He gave $289,100, the utmost amount, to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which supports Republican candidates for the House of Representatives. Musk also arrange a brilliant PAC this 12 months to support Trump and House Republicans, which has donated tens of millions in recent weeks. The PAC won’t disclose its donors until next month.
The latest support for Trump was not enough to offset the prices of high-priced promoting campaigns. Harris and her important super PAC, Future Forward PAC, have booked $421 million in paid media revenue from September through Election Day, nearly double the $216 million for Trump and his ally super PAC MAGA Inc.
Kamala Harris
- Harris and the Democratic Party raised $361 million in August and began September with $404 million.
- Future Forward PAC, their allied Super PAC, raised $36 million and had $84 million in money
Harris’ campaign included quite a few fundraising events, including in San Francisco, where she addressed the donor network of her home state of California, and within the Hamptons on Long Island.
Donors from the financial industry included Bruce Karsh of Oaktree Capital Management LLC, Robert Stavis of Bessemer Venture Partners and Sadek Wahba, co-founder of I Squared Capital. Janice Savin Williams of Siebert Williams Shanke, legendary oil trader Andy Hall, Glenn Fuhrman, who managed money for Michael Dell, and E. John Rosenwald, vice chairman of JPMorgan Chase, also donated.
Donors included celebrities Scarlett Johansson, Carol Burnett, Frances McDormand, Mayim Bialik and Alan Alda. Fashion brand founders Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia and Rebecca Hessel Cohen of LoveShackFancy also donated.
Bronson van Wyck, known for conceiving and planning Trump donor Stephen Schwarzman’s seventieth celebration, is considered one of Harris’ donors, together with Florida chronicler Carl Hiaasen and author and tv producer Susan Fales-Hill.
Harris’ allied Super PAC Future Forward received $3 million each from Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and the Pacific Environmental Coalition, a nonprofit led by technology enterprise capitalist Matt Cohler. Cohler’s nonprofit donated to Nikki Haley’s Super PAC within the Republican primary. Netflix’s Reed Hastings and Ripple Labs co-founder Christian Larsen each donated $1 million, the latter in the shape of the cryptocurrency XRP.
(Hastings, co-founder and chairman of Netflix, sits on the board of Bloomberg Inc.)
Donald Trump
- Trump and the Republicans raised $130 million in August and ended the month with $295 million within the bank
- Super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. raised $25 million and ended September with $59 million
Major donors to Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party in August included Andreessen-Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen, Thomas Peterffy, chairman of Interactive Brokers Group, and Edward Glazer, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Joseph Craft of Alliance Resource Partners LP, casino owners Frank Fertitta and Lorenzo Fertitta, and country singer Lee Greenwood, who performed on the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, also participated.
Wall Street donors to Trump included hedge fund manager Andrew Rechtschaffen, John Sargent of Rockefeller Capital Management and Emil Henry of Tiger Infrastructure Partners LP.
Diane Hendricks, the billionaire owner of ABC Supply Co., donated $10 million to MAGA Inc. She was a keynote speaker on the convention in Milwaukee and was described in this system as “an ordinary American.” Howard Lutnick of Cantor Fitzgerald, which hosted an event for Trump within the Hamptons in August that raised $15 million, and Singer each donated $5 million.
Other Super PACs supporting Trump, including Musk’s America PAC and billionaire Miriam Adelson’s Preserve America, don’t plan to release detailed details about their funds until October 15.
