More than 1.5 million donors opened their wallets for the first time in July to support Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris in the early days of her campaign.
Nearly $184 million poured into Harris’ presidential campaign from individual donors after President Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, according to a Times analysis of Federal Election Commission filings published last week. Harris raised nearly a third of Biden’s total with more than 2.6 million in contributions, an average of $69, $41 less than Biden’s average contribution.
July 21st and 22nd were the biggest fundraising days of the entire campaign cycle. Most of this growth came from low dollar payments of less than $200.
Biden’s exit and Harris’ rise sparked an immediate wave of enthusiasm. In the evening, members of the 21st Win With Black Women held a Zoom support which drew an estimated 90,000 viewers. Younger generations, whom Democrats had struggled to engage, flocked to Harris’ campaign viral memes which have flooded social media like TikTok. Both women and young voters are critical groups that Harris must turn out to win in November.
Nearly 70% of his support came from donors who had not previously given to President Biden this election cycle, according to an analysis of July fundraising reports published by the Times on Aug. 20.
Each state received more than half of its donations from new donors. The biggest increase was in the South and Midwest region.
All in all, the most money came from the large metropolitan areas on the coast. The New York, San Francisco, Washington, and Los Angeles metro areas contributed a combined $48.7 million to Harris between the 21st and 31st. July.
In Los Angeles, the heavily Latino areas of the Eastside and the white areas of Silver Lake and Echo Park had many first-time donors. Many Asian-majority neighborhoods in Long Beach and the Valley rose for the first time for the first major Indian presidential candidate. Around the province, Donors from South Asia gave $2.4 million in the first days of his campaign. Similar excitement can be seen in Little Indias across the country, in Edison, NJ; Queens, NY; and around Devon Avenue in Chicago.
In San Francisco, 70% of donors were new to Noe Valley, home to many young white families. Some Latino and black majority zip codes near San Leandro saw a similar shift toward new donors. Harris appears to be getting renewed enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket in mostly black areas: Compton and Oakland ZIP codes saw significant increases in new donors.
In the first 11 days that Harris was endorsed as the presidential candidate, he raised nearly half of what Biden has raised since the start of 2023 in Atlanta. In areas with large black populations, new donors increased significantly. The swing state of Georgia is a critical voting bloc, with a large percentage of voters black and working-class families.
Donors in the Charlotte, North Carolina metro area contributed more than $745,000 in new contributions to Harris. These areas are mostly black and mostly low-income. Seventy percent of the state’s donors were new, bringing a total of $3.3 million to Harris.
Most blacks and Latinos on the South and West Sides of Chicago showed a great deal of support for Harris. The number of new donors almost tripled in most of the Black Hyde Park area.
In New York, the majority of Latino and black zip codes in the Bronx, Harlem, and Brooklyn received three new donors for every returning donor. In the South Bronx zip code of 10454, where the population is 70% Latino and 25% black, 86% of Harris’ donations came from new donors.
In neighboring New Jersey, a similar pattern can be seen in the eastern part of Newark. The area is home to young low- and middle-income Latinos.
This surge of new donors is especially important in swing states like Arizona, where a wave of new donors from middle-class Latino communities in the Phoenix area showed their support for Harris. South of Phoenix, in Laveen, 83% of the support came from new donors. Some contributions came from Republican-leaning districts.
Texas is a majority Republican state with blue pockets in Austin and Houston. Just west of Houston, near Katy, Harris’ donations increased in areas that voted heavily for Donald Trump in 2020. South of Houston, the Latino and black area around Rosharon previously gave less than $1,000, but the new support for Harris increased to more than $10,500. .
Because the filings only include payments made through July, the data doesn’t show the impact Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has had fundraising in working-class areas. Both Madison, Wis. and the Minneapolis area had twice as many new donors as returning donors. On August 20, Harris and Walz visited left-leaning Milwaukee, a district that has been given $520,000 in new donations.
After last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, it seems like the energy is only growing. The Harris campaign said it had raised $540 million in August, and support surged after his DNC speech. According to the campaign, almost a third of the donations during the annual congress week were first-time donors.
Subscribe to the LA Times Politics newsletter. In-depth reported insights on legislation, policy and politics from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, delivered to your inbox three times a week.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
