US election in numbers: Who won the donation race, Kamala Harris or Donald Trump?

On the fundraising front, the Democrats are leveraging the power of ActBlue, having processed over 113 million donations, while Republicans are firing back with their fundraising engine, WinRed.

Who is winning the donation race, Democrats or Republicans?

According to Bloomberg, candidates, political groups, and PACs have spent a whopping $14.7 billion. This is about 92% of the total money they’re expected to spend this election season. More than 11,000 political groups, from big names like Elon Musk‘s to smaller ones, doled out cash during the 2024 election season, according to the Federal election committe. These groups are the ones that spent over $100,000.

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The outlet reports how both political parties have processed over 113 million donations, distributing a combined $4.5 billion to campaigns and committees—making up more than 31 cents of every dollar spent on the race.

This time around, Donald Trump’s money is mostly coming from big donations from rich supporters instead of his regular followers. His super PACs have gotten more cash from just three people—Elon Musk, a billionaire, Miriam Adelson, and an investor named Timothy Mellon—than his campaign has gotten from people who gave less than $200.

But Kamala Harris is in a better money spot. With broad support from both high-net-worth backers and regular donors, her campaign has managed a far more robust spending effort, with $875 million going into the race compared to Trump’s $355 million. This big money difference has really helped Harris get ahead in trying to win over voters in important swing states.

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“It is an extraordinary amount of money that the candidates are raising, and there’s no shortage of places to spend it,” Steve Caplan, a professor at the University of Southern California said according to the Guardian. “Now, because of an explosion of channels and media outlets, there are countless ways to spend that money, to slice and dice it by the audience and by demographic, whether it’s on digital advertising, YouTube, Facebook, and other social media,” he added.

Democrats gain fundraising lead

According to a Forbes report, Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party are leading in fundraising despite Donald Trump’s strong connections in Silicon Valley. Hollywood A-listers have rallied for Harris in the days leading up to the November 5 election, helping her campaign raise nearly three times more than Trump’s overall total.

In just the first half of October, the Harris campaign has pulled in $97.2 million, while Trump’s team has only managed to get $16.2 million. Back in the day, it was a closer race; by June, Biden and Trump had each raised $284.1 million and $217.2 million, respectively.

The Harris Victory Fund, which is helping out Harris’s campaign and other Democratic groups, has already raised $1.2 billion this election cycle, as reported in a recent FEC filing.