It appears the Kamala Harris era has arrived.
In our post-Citizens United world, where donations are considered “speech,” the flood of donations to Harris’ campaign after President Joe Biden withdrew on Sunday spoke volumes. If money talks, this rush of funds sounded like relief, excitement and even pride — all things Democrats were sorely missing with Biden atop the ticket.
Harris will finally get her chance to “prosecute the case” against Donald Trump, as she sought to do when she ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020.
And many people are eager to see it. On Sunday night, the organizers behind the group Win With Black Women hosted a Zoom call featuring activists and influencers. More than 44,000 people joined the call, Bloomberg News reported.
The group said it raised over $1.5 million during the 90-minute call, signaling a surge of Black, women-led support for Harris. Black folks — Black women, in particular — were some of the most vocal critics of the campaign, led by Democratic insiders and backed by some media pundits, to get Biden to withdraw from the 2024 race. Their concerns were primarily due to a belief that Democratic power brokers would try to select a nominee to leapfrog Harris and lead a post-Biden ticket.
The gathering coordinated by Win With Black Women was a show of force.
In that light, the gathering coordinated by Win With Black Women was a show of force, demonstrating that Black women — a voting bloc Democrats will rely on to win the White House and races for the House and Senate this fall — are firmly in Harris’ corner.
And while we should be cautious not to assume fundraising success necessarily results in electoral success, it signals a palpable energy surrounding Harris at the moment.
On Monday, the Harris campaign announced it had raised $81 million in its first 24 hours across the campaign, Democratic National Committee and joint fundraising committees. That was even higher than the previous record for this year, the $50 million that the Trump campaign reported raising in the 24 hours after his felony conviction in New York.
Meantime, the fundraising platform ActBlue processed tens of millions more up and down the ballot, according to a New York Times analysis, making this a massive fundraising moment for Democrats.
Major donors also jumped into the fray. NBC and CNBC report that several big donors who had suspended donations to Biden, including heiress Abigail Disney, have said they’re ready to throw their money behind Harris. Politico reported that “Future Forward, the flagship super PAC blessed by President Joe Biden, received $150 million in new commitments from major Democratic donors in the 24 hours since the president announced he would step aside from the race.” And The Hollywood Reporter reported that big-money Harris backers in Los Angeles are preparing to support her presidential bid as well, in part to counter tech bros who’ve been backing Trump.
Democratic donors, big and small, who seemed reluctant to bet big on Biden are pushing their chips to the center of the table and appear set to go all-in on the Harris campaign.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.