Campaign funding is at a fever pitch for both the GOP and Democrat parties.
The 2024 presidential election has seen record-breaking campaign contributions after President Biden’s sudden resignation from the Democratic ballot.
However, not all donations are equal. Understanding who makes them, where they come from, and who they are going to paints a meaningful picture of what that candidate will look to achieve should they win the election.
When Kamala Harris, currently serving as Vice President, announced her candidacy, a record breaking $100 million in donations flooded her campaign with in 36 hours. By the end of the third day, Harris’s campaign had raised a $121 million. She also moved to rollover the funds raised for Biden’s run into her own campaign through the Federal Election Commission.
Here’s where campaign contributions currently stand, according to opensecrets.org, a nonpartisan organization that tracks campaign contributions, as of July 30, 2024.
Donald Trump
- Candidate committee money: $216,857,073 million
- Outside money: $233,397,788 million
- Total: $450,254,861 million
Kamala Harris
- Candidate committee money: $294,201,819 million
- Outside money: $130,955,548 million
- Total: $425,157,367 million
Candidate committee money is money that has been donated directly to the candidates campaign from individuals or organizations that support the candidate. The candidate committee is the candidate’s one and only official fundraising organization.
Outside money is from sources such as non profit organizations and political action committees that are not directly affiliated with the candidate. Generally, money donated via outside committees are more likely to come from “dark money” sources — sources that look to obscure who they are and how much they donate.
If the donations are broken down some more we will find that Trump’s biggest donations come from:
- Donald J. Trump for President 2024 (official committee): $216.86 million
- Spent: $71.54 million
- Make America Great Again Inc (unofficial): $201.08 million
- Spent: $141.26 million
- Save America (unofficial): $76.33 million
- Spent: $91.62 million
Overall, Donald Trump’s main donations come from 68.15% large contributions (over $200), and 31.44% of donations come from small, individual donations (under $200).
Source: Opensecrets.org
As for Vice President Kamala Harris, we will find that her biggest donations come from:
- Harris For President (official committee): $294.2 million
- Spent: $142.97 million
- Future Forward USA (unofficial): $134.22 million
- Spent: $12.38 million
- The Lincoln Project (unofficial): $14.14 million
- Spent: $12.45 million
Overall, Kamala Harris’s main donations come from 60.19% large contributions (over $200), and 39.53% of donations come from small, individual donations (under $200).
These numbers reveal that Harris’s contributions come from a smaller, grass-roots community as compared to Trump.
Trump, who demonstrated during his first presidency that he would support the interests of large businesses and corporations, gets a larger percent of his campaign financing from big ticket donations. Trump’s Tax Cut and Jobs Act cut corporate taxes by 14% indefinitely, while providing temporary tax breaks for the general public that are scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris has a larger percentage of her campaign funds coming from a higher number of individuals making smaller donations.
Campaign Contributions and Financing in 2024
The Federal Election Committee (FEC) has announced updated contribution limits for the 2023-2024 campaign cycle.
The limit for individual contributions is currently $3,300.
For individuals and PACs who want to donate to national party committees, this limit has increased to $41,300.
According to Open Secrets, campaign contributions
Election Day will take place on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
Candidate Committee Money
Candidate Committee money is a form of contribution that allows candidates to raise money on their behalf via a committee or transfer donations between candidates. In order to register as a candidate, the candidate must designate a “principle” committee — that is, their official committee.
Establishing a candidate committee gives it the right to accept contributions on behalf of a candidate and also allow expenditures on the candidate’s behalf. Each candidate can only have one official committee.
Per OpenSecrets, Donald Trump raised $216,857,073 via candidate committee money. Kamala Harris raised $294,201,819, after the funds previously donated to President Joe Biden were rolled into Harris’s campaign.
Outside Committee Money
Politicians often also benefits from unofficial fundraising organizations. These committees are not authorized or controlled by the candidate. They include PACs (Political Action Committees), Campaign Committees, and Carey Committees (also known as Hybrid PACs).
These committees all accept money to donate to the campaign and act as third-party groups.
- PACs and SuperPACs are Political Action Committee fundraisers that can donate to the candidate or the political party. The organization’s sole goal is to get their agendas front and center of politics. PACs can be single-issue organizations (such as 2nd Amendment advocacy or reproductive rights) or an overall agenda composed of a myriad of stances on various issues. They can donate a maximum of $5,000 directly to a candidate. However, they can spend money supporting the campaign via advertising, billboards, events, and “swag” unofficially.
- Campaign Committees are specifically oriented to one particular campaign. For example, Kamala Harris for the People is a Campaign Committee that is not authorized by Harris, but is dedicated to fundraising for her campaign.
- Carey Committees are allowed to directly contribute to the campaigns or committees, but also can make limited expenditures independent of the campaign. For example, a Carey Committee might donate $10 million to Donald Trump, then also spend money donating to the NRA.
Intent Behind Campaign Contributions
Contrary to popular belief, individuals can donate to candidate committee funds as well as outside committee money groups like SuperPACs and Hybrid PACs.
In most cases, donations come from businesses as well as individual voters. However, foreign nationals and foreign companies are not allowed to directly contribute to campaign financing.
Dark Money Woes
Many people have heard about “dark money” flooding elections. SuperPACs and regular PACs can accept money donated via a 501(c)4s and opaque nonprofits that obscure who is funding which candidate. These groups can donate unlimited money to the PACs of their choice.
Since the Citizens United Supreme Court case, as much as $1 billion has gone into campaign fundraising. While not all PACs are dark money, the correlation between dark money and PAC power is worth noting.
Ultimately, when trying to understand the real energy behind any cause or election, following the money is the best way to understand who is behind which candidate and initiative — and who they will have loyalties to if elected.
