(CNN) –Kamala Harris entered September — and the final weeks of the presidential campaign — with significantly more money on hand than Donald Trump, new federal data shows, after breaking a fundraising record during her first full month as a Democratic presidential candidate.
Fundraising by national Democratic committees focused on the battle for Congress also skyrocketed: The arm of the party working to turn the U.S. House of Representatives into a blue chamber raised more than twice as much as its counterpart. Republican in August. The House Republican Party’s campaign arm, however, reported a six-figure donation from billionaire Elon Musk last month, as the party tries to defend its slim majority in the chamber.
And with Democrats riding a wave of donor enthusiasm, the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission also showed that some key outside groups increased their activity, while a pro-Trump super PAC unleashed a massive wave of independent spending to help Republicans to close the gap.
Harris completely erased the financial advantage Trump momentarily gained over the summer, when the former president raised more than President Joe Biden in two of the final three months before Biden dropped out of the race in late July. The vice president paid nearly $190 million directly into her campaign in August, more than quadruple the $44.5 million the Trump campaign says came into her main account that month.
Harris’ campaign also spent much more than Trump’s in August, about $174 million. She spent most of it on advertising, $135 million, as she rushed to introduce voters to the new Democratic nominee on an abbreviated schedule. Some 6.4 million went to payroll expenses and 4.5 million to text messages.
By comparison, the Trump campaign spent just $61 million last month, of which the bulk (more than $47 million) went to media buys.
Despite the spending spree, Harris’ campaign main account entered September with $235 million in cash on hand, far surpassing the $135 million remaining in Trump’s coffers, the latest company records show. FEC.
The data presented late Friday night offers only a snapshot of the candidates’ financial strengths.
The Trump and Harris campaigns are aligned with a series of committees that submit disclosure reports on a separate schedule. Harris’ broader network announced it had raised a combined $361 million in August, nearly triple the $130 million Trump’s operation said it brought in.
Harris’ dominance in fundraising helped give Democrats a significant advantage in advertising bookings this fall, including in key battleground states. And the vice president and her allies are overwhelming the former president’s presence on social media. Democrats have spent $137 million on digital platforms since Harris became the party’s standard-bearer in late July, more than triple that of Republicans, a CNN analysis of data collected by advertising tracking company AdImpact shows. .
Campaign reports this Friday show that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – the arm of the party dedicated to House elections – significantly outperformed its Republican counterpart, the National Republican Campaign Committee, by $22, 3 million versus 9.7 million.
The DCCC also entered September with more cash, $87.3 million to the NRCC’s $70.8 million, funds that could be critical in a highly competitive battle for the House of Representatives, where Republicans are defending a narrow majority. .
One of the notable donors who want to help Republicans stem the Democratic tide: billionaire Elon Musk, who reportedly donated $289,100 to the GOP House campaign in August, the largest federal donation ever revealed by Musk so far this cycle, as he increases his donations to Republicans.
The tech mogul, the richest person in the world, endorsed Trump in July. And in another sign of his growing political influence, a super PAC that Musk helped form recently increased his activity in the presidential race, spending more than $40 million since mid-August. That includes more than $22 million in prospecting efforts on behalf of Trump, helping fill a critical role. The Trump campaign, as CNN has previously reported, has chosen to outsource much of his campaign operations to outside organizations.
Party committees focused on Senate elections raised comparable amounts last month.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised $19.1 million and its Democratic counterpart raised $19.2 million. Each spent more than they raised: the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spent $31.6 million and the NRSC spent $26.5 million.
Democrats narrowly control the chamber but face an unfavorable outlook this year as they defend several seats in states that have previously backed Trump.
Harris’ fundraising prowess has put pressure on a network of outside groups that support the former president to help close the money gap.
MAGA Inc, a major pro-Trump super PAC, spent more than $88 million in August alone on independent expenditures on behalf of the former president’s campaign, funding a blitz of television advertising, according to its monthly filing. That’s more than MAGA Inc. has spent in any month this year and about double what it spent in July.
The super PAC received a total of $25 million last month from a range of wealthy supporters, including $10 million from Wisconsin billionaire Diane Hendricks and $5 million from billionaire financier Paul Singer. It ended August with $59.4 million in cash.
On the Democratic side, FF PAC, one of the leading pro-Harris super PACs, reported raising nearly $37 million last month, $30 million of which came from Facebook co-founder and billionaire investor Dustin Moskovitz, by far his largest federal donation of the election cycle. The super PAC spent more than $77 million in August, including nearly $62 million in independent spending to benefit the vice president’s campaign.
