U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris has reportedly raised more in donations over the past three months than former President Donald Trump has raised for the entire year. According to the Financial Times (FT) on the 21st (local time), Vice President Harris collected a total of $9.71 billion (approximately KRW 13.42 trillion) from July to September. In contrast, former President Trump raised only $3.66 billion (approximately KRW 5.06 trillion) during the same period.
The total donations Trump collected from January to September this year amounted to $8.94 billion (approximately KRW 12.36 trillion), still less than what Harris raised in three months. Not only did Harris surpass Trump in the amount of donations, but she also outnumbered him in the number of donors.
Since Vice President Harris entered the presidential race following President Joe Biden’s voluntary withdrawal on July 21, she has received contributions from 4.9 million voters. During the same period, 1.37 million voters donated to Trump.
Trump has been more reliant on super PACs (Special Political Action Committees) involving big business donors rather than general donors. Although the Trump camp raised $8.94 billion this year, the total increases to $15.2 billion (approximately KRW 20.92 trillion) when super PAC donations are included.
Particularly, four billionaires, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Timothy Mellon of the Mellon family, casino mogul Miriam Adelson, and transport tycoon Dick Uihlein, contributed $3.95 billion (approximately KRW 4.45 trillion) to the Trump camp.
Unlike candidate campaigns, which have limits on donation amounts per individual, super PACs can collect donations without limits.
Meanwhile, the super PAC supporting Vice President Harris raised $5 million (approximately KRW 6.9 billion) from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and $10 million (approximately KRW 13.8 billion) from Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook, in the third quarter. Including super PAC fundraising, the Harris camp collected a total of $18.9 billion (approximately KRW 26.09 trillion) this year.
[Photo Credit: AP=Yonhap News]