More than 1.5 million donors opened their wallets for the first time in July to support Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in the early days of her campaign.
Nearly $184 million flooded into Harris’ presidential campaign committees from individual donors since President Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, according to a Times analysis of Federal Election Commission filings released last week. Harris raised nearly a third of Biden’s total with more than 2.6 million contributions averaging $69, $41 less than Biden’s average contribution.
July 21 and 22 were the biggest fundraising days in the entire campaign cycle. Most of that boost came from small dollar contributions, under $200.
Biden’s exit and Harris’ ascendance sparked an immediate wave of enthusiasm. On the night of the 21st, members of Win With Black Women held a Zoom in support that attracted an estimated 90,000 viewers. Younger generations that the Democrats had struggled to engage flocked to the Harris campaign with viral memes that have flooded social media platforms such as TikTok. Both women and young voters are critical groups that Harris needs to vote to win in November.
Nearly 70% of her support was from donors who had not given previously to President Biden in this election cycle, according to a Times analysis of July fundraising reports released Aug. 20.
Every single state saw more than half of its contributions come from new donors. The biggest increases were in the South and Midwest.
Overall the most money came from large metropolitan areas on the coasts. The New York, San Francisco, Washington and Los Angeles metro areas donated a combined $48.7 million to Harris from July 21 to 31.
In Los Angeles, heavily Latino areas on the Eastside and white neighborhoods in Silver Lake and Echo Park had many first-time donors. Many Asian-majority neighborhoods in Long Beach and the Valley stepped up for the first time for the first major presidential candidate of Indian heritage. Around the county, South Asian donors gave $2.4 million in the first days of her campaign. A similar pattern of excitement can be seen in Little Indias across the country, in Edison, N.J.; Queens, N.Y; and areas around Devon Avenue in Chicago.
In San Francisco, 70% of donors were new in Noe Valley, which is home to many young white families. Some Latino and Black majority ZIP Codes near San Leandro saw a similar shift towards new donors. Harris seems to be drawing on renewed enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket in majority Black areas: ZIP codes around Compton in L.A. and Oakland saw big increases in new donors.
In the first 11 days that Harris was endorsed as presidential nominee, she raised almost half of what Biden raised since the beginning of 2023 from Atlanta. Areas with high percentages of Black residents saw big increases in new donors. The swing state of Georgia is a critical voting bloc, with a large proportion of Black voters and working-class families.
Donors from the Charlotte metro area in North Carolina poured in more than $745,000 for Harris in new donations. These areas are majority Black and mostly lower income. Seventy percent of donors in the state were new and they brought in a total of $3.3 million for Harris.
Majority Black and Latino areas in the South and West sides of Chicago gave heavily to Harris. New donors nearly tripled in the majority Black Hyde Park area.
In New York, majority Latino and Black ZIP codes in the Bronx, Harlem and Brooklyn saw three new donors for every returning donor. In the South Bronx ZIP Code 10454, where the population is 70% Latino and 25% Black, 86% of Harris donations were from new donors.
In neighboring New Jersey, a comparable pattern can be seen in the eastern part of Newark. The area is home to young lower- to middle-income Latinos.
This boost in new donors is especially important in swing states like Arizona, where a wave of new donors from middle-class, majority Latino communities in the Phoenix area showed their support for Harris. South of Phoenix, in Laveen, 83% of support came from new donors. Some contributions came from Republican-leaning areas.
Texas is a majority Republican state with blue pockets in Austin and Houston. Just west of Houston, near Katy, Harris donations spiked in areas that voted heavily for Donald Trump in 2020. The Latino and Black area south of Houston, around Rosharon, previously gave less than $1,000, but new support for Harris grew to more than $10,500.
Since the filings only include contributions through July, the data won’t show the impact that running mate 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 Aug. 20, Harris and Walz visited left-leaning Milwaukee, an area that’s given $520,000 in new donations.
After the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week, it seems like the energy is only growing. The Harris campaign said it’s raised $540 million in August, with a surge of support after her DNC speech. The campaign said nearly a third of contributions during the convention week were first-time contributors.
