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Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign outraised and outspent former President Donald Trump in September, new campaign finance filings show.  

The Harris campaign raised $221.8 million, spent $269.8 million, and ended with $187.5 million on hand, according to the report it filed Sunday evening. 

Trump’s campaign raised $62.7 million, spent $77.6 million, and ended with $119.7 million cash on hand. 

Both candidates have juiced their fundraising hauls with joint fundraising committees, which enable individual high-dollar donors to cut large checks to support both the presidential campaigns and their affiliated committees, beyond the $3,300 maximum an individual can give to a federal candidate per cycle. 

The Harris Victory Fund, which divides donations between Harris’ campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties, has brought in over $1 billion this cycle, over $633 million of which it raised in the third fundraising quarter, from July 1 to September 30. 

Trump, similarly, raises funds through two joint fundraising committees: one is with Save America, his affiliated leadership PAC, and the other is with Save America, the Republican National Committee and state Republican parties. Those two committees together raised $157.6 million in the third quarter. 

President Joe Biden’s unsteady, halting debate performance in late June against Trump spooked top Democratic officials and donors, fueling the pressure on him to drop out. Harris entered the race on July 21 to an outpouring of grassroots and donor enthusiasm, bringing in $81 million in her first 24 hours as a candidate. 

In the month of August, Harris’ campaign and her affiliated committees raised over $361 million, filings show, more than twice the $130 million that Trump’s campaign and associated committee raised. 

Harris has already prebooked $370 million in television and digital ads for the last stretch of the campaign based on anticipated final haul fundraising efforts.

Major super PACs are also spending heavily in the race in support of both candidates. 

Future Forward USA and American Bridge 21st Century are two of the biggest PACs supporting Harris, while Make America Great Again Inc., Preserve America and the Elon Musk-backed America PAC are spending to support Trump. 

The Trump campaign has outsourced much of its on-the-ground field operations and canvassing to super PACs, including America PAC. 

Trump’s own fundraising has lagged this period. Small-dollar contributions for his campaign have dropped off steadily since he last ran in 2020; in the three months ending in June, less than one-third of all contributions came from those who gave less than $200. It was a lower amount of small-dollar donations than he pulled in in the same period of 2020. Small-dollar donations are widely regarded as a metric of voter enthusiasm and popular support on the ground.

With these numbers lagging, Trump has turned his fundraising focus to big-ticket paths to cash. The Republican nominee recently announced an “Ultra MAGA Experience” with him for a $924,600 donation, part of a planned October 27 rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Lower tiers of donations for special access that evening include the “President’s Club Experience” ($5,000), the “MAGA 24 Experience” ($35,000), the “Club 47 Experience” (give $50,000 or raise $70,000), the “Team America First Experience” (give $100,000 or raise $200,000), and the “Team Trump 2024 Experience” (give $250,000 or raise $500,000). 

National and swing state polls show a tight race between Harris and Trump. With Harris polling well over 10 percentage points ahead of Trump in New York, the move to hold a rally in his former home city during the last 10 days of the campaign is regarded as an indicator of how much the campaign is focused on fundraising, and not voters, in this final stretch. 

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