Kamala Harris’ campaign has raised $1b in two months as Donald Trump struggles to keep up

Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has amassed $1b in just two months, while Donald Trump is struggling to match the fundraising momentum of his previous run for office.

She crossed the milestone at the end of September – just eight weeks after being declared the Democratic candidate following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race.

Insiders from her campaign disclosed Ms Harris’ achievement as a separate analysis revealed that contributions from small donors to Mr Trump’s camp have tumbled by 40 per cent compared with his last White House bid in 2020, when he lost to Mr Biden.

Mr Trump had raised $309m by the start of September.

However, the former president got a boost from the polls as he edged ahead of Ms Harris in key battleground states. Mr Trump is leading Ms Harris by 3 per cent in Michigan and 2 per cent in Wisconsin, Politico reported.

Mr Trump has offset his reduction in smaller donations through support from influential political action committees (PACs), which raise and spend money to support candidates without donating to them directly. The America PAC, set up by Tesla tycoon Elon Musk, has spent more than $30m since mid-August to support the Republican candidate.

Fewer than a third of the Trump campaign’s contributions have come from donors who gave less than $200 – down from nearly half of all donations in his 2020 race.

He has raised $98m, compared to $165m previously, research by Associated Press and OpenSecrets, which tracks political spending, revealed.

Mr Biden and then Ms Harris have raised $285m from such donors, representing more than 40 per cent of their fundraising. Karoline Leavitt, from the Trump campaign, did not directly address the fall in donations. But she blamed the Biden administration and Ms Harris for a poor economy which had led to voters having less money to spend.

Yesterday, both candidates continued to campaign in battleground states. Ms Harris was due to attend an event in Las Vegas before going to a rally in Phoenix, Arizona. While Mr Trump gave a speech at the Detroit Economic Club in Michigan.