Harris raised $200 million in first week of White House campaign, signed up 170,000 volunteers | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has raised $200 million since emerging last week as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, a stunning haul in her race against the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.

The campaign, which announced its latest fundraising total on Sunday, said the majority of the donations — 66% — came from new donors in the 2024 election cycle and were made after President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the race and endorsed Harris.

More than 170,000 volunteers have also signed up to help the Harris campaign with phone banking, canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts. Election Day is just 100 days away.

“The momentum and energy for Vice President Harris are real — and so are the fundamentals of this race: This election will be very close and decided by a small number of voters in just a few states,” Michael Tyler, the campaign’s communications director, wrote in a memo.

Harris campaigned in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday, drawing hundreds of people to a fundraiser organized when Biden was still at the top of the Democratic ticket. The fundraiser was originally expected to raise $400,000 but ended up raising about $1.4 million, the campaign said.

Harris quickly gained Democratic support after Biden, whose candidacy foundered after his disastrous performance in the June 27 debate with Trump, dropped out of the race. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former House Minority Leader Jim Clyburn, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton quickly announced their support.

Star Democratic fundraisers, former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama, announced their support on Friday.

Harris said at her fundraising event on Saturday that she is still the “underdog” in the race, but that her campaign is gaining momentum.

Future Forward, the largest super PAC in Democratic politics, announced last week that it had received $150 million in pledges from donors in the first 24 hours after Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris.

Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives and Senate say they have also seen an increase in support since Harris emerged as the party’s likely nominee.

Meanwhile, Trump, his running mate Sen. JD Vance and their surrogates have stepped up their efforts to portray Harris as a far-left politician out of touch with the American mainstream.

Vance said Sunday after stopping at a restaurant in Waite Park, Minnesota, that Harris had “got a little bit of a boost from her introduction” but predicted that would quickly dissipate.

“Look, people are going to learn her record,” Vance said. “They’re going to learn that she’s a radical. They’re going to learn that she’s basically a San Francisco liberal who wants to take San Francisco policies to the entire country.”

Vance echoed Trump, who in a campaign appearance with Vance in St. Cloud, Minnesota on Saturday, called Harris a “crazy liberal,” accused her of wanting to “defund the police” and said she was an “absolute radical” on abortion. The vice president, an outspoken supporter of abortion rights, has made clear that she will make Republican-backed efforts to restrict reproductive rights a key part of her campaign.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Harris “is a nice person, but she’s incredibly liberal.”

“If you expect Vice President Harris to change the course we’re taking as a nation, you’re going to be sorely disappointed,” he said. “There’s not a liberal horse she hasn’t chosen to ride.”

Trump supporter Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., also sought to brand Harris as a full partner in “many of the Biden administration’s worst decisions,” including the chaotic August 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops that led to the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and military.

Cotton also accused Harris of encouraging Iranian allies Hamas and Hezbollah by pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over civilian casualties in the Gaza war.

Netanyahu met separately with Harris and Biden at the White House on Thursday. Afterward, Harris said she urged Netanyahu to quickly reach a ceasefire agreement with the militant group Hamas so that dozens of hostages held by the militants in Gaza since Oct. 7 can return home. Harris also said she affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself but expressed deep concern about the high death toll in Gaza and the “dire” humanitarian situation there.

Tensions in the Middle East rose Saturday after Israeli authorities said a rocket from Lebanon hit a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teenagers. The attack raised fears of a wider regional war between Israel and Hezbollah, which denied any role in the attack.

“Frankly, it emboldens Iran and terrorist groups like Hezbollah, because they believe that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will continue to put more pressure on Israel than they will on Iran and its terrorists, who are surrounding Israel with the stated goal of destroying Israel,” Cotton said.

Still, some Republicans worry that Harris’ arrival has given Democrats a boost and that Trump will have to change course.

Gov. Chris Sununu, R-N.H., said Harris is in a “honeymoon” period that will likely last a month, but he also acknowledged that both Trump and running mate J.D. Vance need to stop the personal attacks on Harris, which won’t move people to vote. Instead, he said, they should stick to the issues and “stay away from the insults.”

He said Trump had missed an opportunity to do that in recent campaign events, but “hopefully they can get back on track. I think he was on track there for a couple of months. I think the change in the campaign prompted him to go against her personally.”

But Sununu also acknowledged that “nobody can make Donald Trump do anything. But hopefully the numbers, the polls, will make Donald Trump realize what worked and what didn’t work.”

Graham was a guest on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Sununu was a guest on ABC’s “This Week” and Cotton was a guest on CNN’s “State of the Union.”