Harris brings in record $305 million in her first week of White House campaign
Washington: US Vice President Kamala Harris has raised $US200 million ($305 million) since Joe Biden stood down, completely upending an election rematch most Americans did not want and forcing Donald Trump to recalibrate his strategy 100 days before voters head to the ballot box.
Exactly one week after Biden withdrew from the race, Harris’ campaign announced her record fundraising haul, as she pushed out a relatively new attack line on her 78-year-old Republican rival and his controversial running mate J.D. Vance: that they are “weird”.
Vice President Kamala Harris greets supporters as she arrives at Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport in Westfield, Massachusetts.Credit: AP
“You may have noticed Donald Trump has been resorting to some wild lies about my record, and some of what he and his running mate are saying,” the vice president said during an event in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
“Well, it’s just plain weird. I mean, that’s the box you put that in, right?”
The Harris campaign called Trump “old and quite weird” following his appearance last week on Fox News and similar attacks have been used by a host of Democrats, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who is a contender to be her running mate and whose description of “weird people on the other side” was an online hit with Democrats.
And in a rare TV interview, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also leaned into the messaging, suggesting that Trump was probably now regretting his choice of running mate and labelling Vance “weird” and “erratic”.
The rhetoric appears to be geared for young and independent voters who, according to polls, are now more engaged than they were when it was a Trump-Biden rematch.
Indeed, as Harris arrived at her event in Pittsfield on Saturday (Sunday AEST), people outside the venue held signs saying “Trump is weird” and “If my cat could vote, she would vote for you” - a reference to the blowback Vance has received for suggesting “childless cat ladies” were running the country.
Harris’ fundraising haul is also more than what the 81-year-old Biden garnered in the first three months of the year.
Roughly two-thirds of that amount came from first-time donors, according to her campaign, which says it has also signed up more than 170,000 new volunteers - in another indication of the enthusiasm Democrats have now they believe they have a chance to defeat Trump.
But whether the 59-year-old vice president can sustain the momentum is an open question, particularly amid widespread questions about her past performances, her ability to tackle the border crisis, or her ability to confront cost-of-living pressures in the US.
“As vice president, Harris is inextricably tied to an unpopular administration and will be on defence on key issues like inflation and immigration, and in most of the polling data we’ve seen such far, Harris does not significantly outperform Biden,” says Doug Kriner, professor of government and policy at Cornell University.
“A Harris candidacy may re-energise the base – but it is far from certain that she will show greater appeal to swing voters.”
Trump, meanwhile, seemed strangely rattled about the shift to Harris, claiming that the media was rallying for her as the polls narrowed.
Republican presidential candidate former president Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally over the weekend.Credit: AP
Despite claiming after his assassination attempt that he wanted to unify the country, Trump instead lamented that Harris, a former prosecutor, was supposedly being compared to Margaret Thatcher by the media.
“Three months ago she was thought of so badly, [the media] were just killing her,” he said of the vice president.
“And now they’re trying to make her into a – let’s say – Margaret Thatcher. I don’t think so. It’s not going to happen.
“Margaret Thatcher didn’t laugh like that. Did she? If she did, she wouldn’t have been Margaret Thatcher,” the Republican added, labelling his rival “Laughin’ Kamala Harris”.
As the race for the White House intensifies, Harris’ campaign said it held about 2300 organising events in battleground states this weekend. Meanwhile, a myriad of would-be running mates have spent the weekend taking part in a not-so-subtle audition while she considers whom to choose.
Among the main contenders are Walz, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.
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