In a sign of just how flush her campaign is as she enters the final turn signaled by Labor Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday pledged $25 million toward House, Senate and state-level races. That commitment is a major investment aimed at making it easier for Harris to govern if she’s elected president.
If the Harris campaign is a source of cash for other Democratic candidates, then the Trump campaign is a sponge.
The $25 million being doled out includes $10 million each to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which are focused on winning back the House and keeping the Senate. Another $2.5 million will go to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which helps in state legislature races, and $1 million each to the Democratic Governors Association and the Democratic Attorneys General Association.
With former President Donald Trump atop the Republican ticket, the GOP is in the opposite position financially. If the Harris campaign is a source of cash for other Democratic candidates, then the Trump campaign is a sponge, continuing to suck up precious resources other Republican candidates need ahead of a tight election. The cash disparity could not only determine the trajectory of the presidential race, but it might also help determine the direction of the country for the next two years.
When Harris took over as the Democratic Party’s candidate, she inherited a sizable war chest from President Joe Biden who was leading Trump in both spending and cash on hand. Since then, that cash pile has only grown. The Harris campaign said last week that in the six weeks since Biden stepped aside, it’s raised $540 million. That’s right, more than half a billion dollars in just a month and a half. With that kind of money rolling in, it only makes sense for Harris to share the wealth with other Democratic candidates.
With political spending set to top $10 billion this year, the $25 million pledge from Harris to down-ballot Democrats may initially seem like a drop in the bucket. But it’s huge that this much money is being sent out this early. “In 2020, the DNC transferred $5 million to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and $1 million to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in mid-October, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission,” Politico reported Tuesday. “Earlier money gives the committees more spending options, as common campaign tactics such as hiring staff, taping ads or printing mailers take time.”
The earlier dispensation of money is important because it’s still a very close election across the board. Control of the House is currently a toss-up, according to the Cook Political Report’s latest estimates. There are 22 seats that are competitive enough to be considered up for grabs, split evenly between the parties, with Democrats needing to flip only eight of the GOP’s 11 seats to regain a majority. And while the Senate calendar is tough for Democrats this year, with at least one seat guaranteed to flip to Republicans in West Virginia, Democratic incumbents and candidates for open seats are holding strong for now.
Beyond the flex of being able to throw around that kind of money, there are strategic considerations at play, too, for Democrats. Harris saw all too well from her view as president of the Senate that a Democratic president’s agenda requires enough Democrats in Congress. Also, this is a case where a rising tide lifts all boat; volunteers who are getting out the vote for congressional candidates are also bringing voters for president to the booth and vice versa. And when you’ve already earmarked $370 million for television and digital ads this fall, that leaves a sizeable chunk of money that still needs spending.
Both campaigns are sitting on a truly absurd amount of cash, but only Harris is able to take a step back and see the whole political landscape.
In contrast, Politico reports that Republicans who see that they’re being out fundraised and outspent up and down the ballot are starting to panic. It doesn’t help that Trump is only interested in money for himself. After all, he has asked Republican campaigns that use his name, image and likeness give him a 5% cut of donations that result. State Republican parties that were already feeling a cash crunch after Trump spent years hoovering up small-dollar donations aren’t likely to get a boost from the Republican National Committee, which is focusing more on “election integrity” than get out the vote programs and other fieldwork.
Also troubling for the GOP’s chances, the money Trump has raised isn’t necessarily being spent on his getting elected. Since he left office in 2021, Trump has used various political action committees to funneling more than $100 million toward his legal fees. Beyond that, as former Republican strategist Juleanna Glover recently wrote in The New York Times , opaque recordkeeping and lax enforcement from the Federal Election Commission means it’s hard to know just what his presidential campaigns have spent their money on. And, unlike Harris and the Democrats, he’s only recently begun building out the kind of campaign infrastructure that gets voters to the polls.
Both campaigns are sitting on a truly absurd amount of cash, but only Harris is able to take a step back and see the whole political landscape. With that financial freedom, Harris and the DNC are trying to win not just the White House, and not just the White House, House and Senate, but also races that could affect state governments across the country. Regardless of our politics, we should all be thankful that there’s no guarantee that the campaign that spends the most wins an election. Still, having more money is an advantage, and it says something significant that Democrats see themselves as not just in a position to keep the White House but to win enough down-ballot races to help turn the page on Trumpism.
