Harris entered October with big cash edge over Trump

By David Wright and Fredreka Schouten, CNN

(CNN) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ political operation entered the final full month of the election with a substantial cash advantage over former President Donald Trump’s network, campaign reports filed Sunday night show.

The Democrat began October with $346 million in the coffers of the committees she controls with the national Democratic Party, surpassing the nearly $285 million available to her Republican rival for the final sprint to Election Day, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission covering the month of September.

Harris has consistently outraised Trump since entering the race for the White House in late July and quickly collected $1 billion in support of her candidacy – a pace unmatched by any previous presidential contender. Last month, her principal campaign committee outraised Trump’s by a more than 3-to-1 margin, the new filings show.

But Harris campaign aides have struck a cautious tone – saying they need to keep raising money at a fast clip to remain competitive, given the truncated window for Harris to introduce herself to voters and the growing sums that Trump’s billionaire supporters have injected into the contest.

Over the weekend, Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, raised money at events in Boston and Greenwich, Connecticut, as their campaign urged supporters to contribute smaller amounts online in honor of Harris’ 60th birthday Sunday.

The Harris campaign has touted its small-dollar donations, saying that nearly two-thirds of the money raised in September came from grassroots donors. Campaign aides say they have grown the base of donors making recurring contributions to 607,000 contributors – nearly double the number that it had at the end of June, when President Joe Biden was still leading the Democratic ticket.

Even as she raises big sums, Harris is spending heavily. Her principal campaign committee reported receiving a total of nearly $222 million last month – compared to about $63 million for Trump – but it spent even more: nearly $270 million. As data from the ad tracking firm AdImpact shows, that has translated into a major advantage on the airwaves. The Harris campaign outspent Trump on advertising in September, about $196 million to $73 million.

Single largest donor of 2024 gives millions more to Trump group

A super PAC supporting Trump’s candidacy received another large donation from one of his biggest backers last month, the filings show. Timothy Mellon, a reclusive billionaire and heir to a banking fortune, contributed $25 million to Make America Great Again, Inc., bringing his total donations to the Trump-aligned group to a staggering $150 million this election cycle.

Mellon’s September contribution accounted for more than 60% of the money the super PAC took in last month.

Mellon, who also pumped millions into a super PAC that supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s erstwhile independent bid for the White House, has emerged as the single largest disclosed donor of the 2024 election cycle.

Wealthy Democrats also rally to Harris

The new filings Sunday night also showed some of the Democratic Party’s wealthiest supporters and other notable names rallying to support Harris’ campaign.

FF PAC, the leading super PAC backing Harris, reported that it raised more than $104 million in September, while spending more than $118 million to flood battleground airwaves with pro-Harris advertising.

The group hauled in seven-figure donations last month from a range of wealthy donors, including $10 million from Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz. Christian Larsen, the co-founder of cryptocurrency firm Ripple Labs, contributed nearly $9.9 million. In August, FEC records show Larsen making a $1 million contribution to the super PAC in XRP, his company’s digital currency.

The billionaire Democratic governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, gave $5 million to FF PAC, while billionaire financier Stephen Mandel and his wife, Susan, also combined to give $5 million.

Other notable contributions to the group came from James Murdoch and his wife, Kathryn, who combined to give $1 million in September. Murdoch is the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who owns the conservative news channel Fox News through his conglomerate News Corp. FEC records show that James and Kathryn Murdoch had previously given the super PAC $1 million together in June.

CNN’s Alex Leeds Matthews contributed to this report.

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