Bracelets, drones, ads. How Harris is spending campaign cash
Summary
TLDRThe transcript discusses the evolving dynamics of political fundraising ahead of the 2024 elections, highlighting a significant fundraising gap between Democratic candidates like Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. It explores concerns among Republicans regarding Trump's ability to mobilize support and raise funds for down-ballot races, as well as the impact of campaign spending in a polarized electorate. The analysis emphasizes the unique enthusiasm Harris generates within the Democratic Party, contrasting with perceived donor fatigue among Trumpβs base. Upcoming campaign finance reports are anticipated to shed light on grassroots support and overall candidate viability.
Takeaways
- π Republicans are focusing their campaign funds on key battleground states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.
- π° There are concerns within the GOP regarding Trump's lower fundraising and its potential negative impact on down-ballot candidates.
- π€ Trump's past candidates were more generous in supporting fellow Republicans compared to his current approach.
- π Kamala Harris's campaign has made significant investments, contributing $25 million to Congressional Democrats, contrasting with Trump's fundraising efforts.
- π³οΈ Despite heavy spending by Democrats, the race remains tight, suggesting that campaign spending alone may not significantly shift voter opinions.
- π The changing political landscape has made it easier for candidates to communicate their messages through cheaper platforms like social media.
- π The impact of money in campaigns is being closely monitored, particularly how it translates into voter engagement and turnout.
- β¨ Harris's campaign has generated organic enthusiasm among Democratic voters, attributed to her being a fresh candidate in the field.
- π Upcoming campaign finance reports on October 15 will provide more insight into the fundraising landscape and voter enthusiasm.
- π₯ The drop-off in small-dollar donations for Trump may indicate donor fatigue after years of contributing, contrasting with the excitement around Harris.
Q & A
What are the main concerns for Republicans regarding fundraising in the 2024 campaign?
-Republicans are worried about a trickle-down effect with Trump raising less money than Democrats, which may impact down-ballot candidates who need financial support.
How does Kamala Harris's fundraising compare to that of Donald Trump?
-Kamala Harris's campaign has sent around $25 million to Congressional Democratic campaigns, whereas Trump has not made similar investments, raising concerns about his support for down-ballot races.
What was Trump's focus after losing the 2020 election, and how did it affect Senate races?
-After losing the 2020 election, Trump was more focused on contesting the election results rather than helping Republicans in the Georgia special elections, which contributed to a distancing between some Republicans and Trump.
How has the polarization of the electorate influenced campaign spending effectiveness?
-The polarization of the electorate suggests that while money still matters, it may not shift voter preferences significantly, especially in a close race where opinions are entrenched.
What impact does digital advertising have on Harris's campaign strategy?
-Harris has a significant advantage in digital advertising spending, with almost a three-to-one ratio over Trump, which could help in defining her candidacy to voters.
Why is the upcoming campaign finance report on October 15 significant?
-The report will provide insights into the small-dollar donor contributions for both Trump and Harris, helping to gauge donor enthusiasm and the financial dynamics of their campaigns.
What does a higher fundraising success indicate about voter enthusiasm?
-A higher fundraising success for Harris may indicate stronger enthusiasm among Democratic voters, while a drop-off in Trump's small-dollar donations could reflect donor fatigue.
How does the spending in the 2024 campaign compare to previous elections?
-The spending patterns in the 2024 campaign show Democrats have consistently outspent Republicans, raising questions about the effectiveness of traditional campaign strategies in a polarized environment.
What challenges does Trump face with his fundraising efforts?
-Trump faces challenges due to a potential exhaustion among his small-dollar donors, who may have contributed to him for an extended period, leading to decreased financial support.
What unique qualities of Kamala Harris might contribute to her fundraising success?
-Harris's unique qualities include being seen as a fresh candidate within the Democratic Party, which has allowed her to tap into new audiences and generate organic enthusiasm among voters.
Outlines
π Campaign Strategies and Polling Dynamics
This part discusses the competitive dynamics between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as they approach the 2024 election. It highlights Harris's fundraising success, particularly in attracting small-dollar donations, which signifies grassroots support. The analysis emphasizes how Trump's fundraising is lagging behind, raising questions about his appeal and the overall enthusiasm of his base. Furthermore, the segment examines recent polling trends, noting a statistical tie between the candidates despite Harris's significant financial advantage, suggesting the limits of money in shifting voter sentiment in a polarized political environment.
π° Fundraising Disparities and Political Impact
In this segment, the conversation shifts to the implications of campaign financing in the electoral landscape. It notes that while Harris has made considerable contributions to support Congressional Democrats, Trumpβs lesser involvement raises concerns among GOP members about his commitment to the party. The discussion also touches on how despite significant spending, Harris's lead over Trump remains narrow, indicating the challenges of translating financial resources into electoral success. The speakers reflect on the evolving nature of voter engagement and the importance of upcoming campaign finance reports, which are expected to provide insights into the fundraising efforts and grassroots enthusiasm for both candidates.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Campaign Funding
π‘Polarization
π‘Small-Dollar Donations
π‘Down-Ballot Races
π‘Digital Advertising
π‘Campaign Strategy
π‘Voter Engagement
π‘Election Cycle
π‘Grassroots Support
π‘Fundraising Disparities
Highlights
Republicans are concentrating their financial resources in key states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, reflecting strategic electoral targeting.
There is a concern among Republicans about Trump's fundraising lag compared to Democrats, potentially affecting down-ballot races.
Past presidential Republican candidates have been more supportive of down-ballot races than Trump, causing unease within the GOP.
Kamala Harris's campaign has allocated $25 million to Congressional Democrats, showcasing significant party support compared to Trump's contributions.
Trump's focus on personal election contests post-2020 contributed to Republican distancing from him after January 6th.
The relationship between campaign spending and electoral success is under scrutiny, with discussions on whether it truly impacts voter behavior in a polarized environment.
Despite significant spending, Harris's campaign has not notably shifted her poll numbers ahead of Trump, indicating voter entrenchment.
The ratio of digital ad spending between Harris and Trump highlights a strategic advantage for the Democrats in reaching voters.
The upcoming campaign finance reports on October 15th will provide more insight into the fundraising dynamics between Trump and Harris.
Trump's small dollar donors may be experiencing fatigue after years of contributions, raising questions about ongoing support.
Harris appears to be tapping into a fresh enthusiasm within the Democratic Party, contrasting with past candidates who lacked excitement.
The podcast discussion emphasizes the disparity in fundraising strategies between the two parties and the implications for the electoral landscape.
The significance of campaign contributions is highlighted, showing a complex relationship between money and voter mobilization.
Trump's fundraising approach has evolved, with concerns about donor engagement after extensive fundraising post-2020 election.
Political enthusiasm is a key factor, as Harris's fresh appeal may be influencing donor contributions more positively than Trump's.
The conversation points out the unusual nature of current campaign dynamics, with substantial spending yielding minimal shifts in voter sentiment.
Transcripts
so may kamla Harris's presidential
campaign is raising a lot more money
than Donald Trump's and they're doing
some pretty fun things with it I
wondered if you had hundreds of millions
of dollars to spend on a presidential
campaign what's the most ridiculous
thing that you would spend that money
on a Taylor Swift
concert I don't I don't even know if the
Harris campaign can afford that that's
yeah you're right maybe that's just a
pipe dream but since Taylor endorsed her
you know it seems like a possibility I
guess uh for them like an in-kind
contribution I I still haven't heard any
reports of this concert coming into play
but maybe there's going to be a surprise
late in the campaign yeah it would be
really interesting if she popped up at
some point since the Harris campaign had
no idea that endorsement was coming they
were praying for it but they didn't know
it was coming
welcome to the campaign moment from The
Washington Post I'm Aaron Blake senior
political reporter and writer of the
campaign moment newsletter it's Tuesday
October 8th and today I'm joined by mave
Reston mave is a national political
reporter covering the 2024 campaign and
the politics of the American West hey Ma
so good to be with you
[Music]
guys so today's show is about something
we don't talk about a a whole lot on
this podcast and that is campaign money
vice president KLA Harris's campaign and
the Democrats are currently outspending
former president Donald Trump's campaign
and Republicans by a wide margin that's
according to a new Washington Post
analysis so we wanted to break down what
the campaigns are spending their money
on what it means and whether the
spending gap between the two parties
could ultimately make a difference in
what is still a very close race
Ma I'm excited to talk about this
because campaign Finance is something
that I used to get really excited about
like the reports would come out midnight
on the given day and I'd sort through
all of them and I'd try to find little
nuggets that would give us some clues
about where the campaigns are going and
who's up and who's down what campaigns
look strong but today I want to lean on
you because I don't watch this stuff as
closely as I used to you've been
covering campaign finance a lot this
cycle and you've also been on the
campaign Trail covering the Harris
campaign are you seeing ways in which
this financial advantage presents itself
out on the campaign Trail like is are
there certain things that you see about
how the Harris campaign does things that
tell you that they're just flush with
cash right now yeah it's been really
interesting just going to some of her
rallies because you know usually at this
point the campaigns are trying to spend
you know all of their money on ads or
their ground organizers and it is just
clear that she can kind of flex that
money Advantage I was um at a rally in
Nevada with her recently and I counted
in the line a dozen misters that were
Mister like spraying water on people yes
like these sort of fans that send out
this jet of cool mist over people as
they're waiting in line you know in 100Β°
weather for sometimes for hours the
lines themselves are shaded with these
white tents that you might see you know
at an event to keep people out of the
Sun at the rallies that I've been to In
in North Carolina and a couple of other
ones there have been uh DJs outside
getting people warmed up um in Charlotte
they were playing um mown Philly and you
know great s great s poison people were
just dancing in line under these tents
and as people go in the door they get
these uh like light up wristbands that
you might see at a concert which um a
campaign Aid was telling me are are
synchronized to the music so sometimes
certain sections of the stadium you know
as speakers are speaking or as she's
speaking will light up and KLA Harris's
campaign has also done extra things to
try to get the attention of you know
voters who maybe are not tuned into
politics at all one example of that was
that she had an aerial drone show over
the Philadelphia Museum of Art just
before the presidential debate um and it
lit up the sky with messages like Madame
President and her signature line when we
fight we win and uh we're not going back
which is her standard call response line
at the rallies so you just see all of
these little signs obviously none of
that costs as much as the TV adds to you
but she has like the money to add all
these extra Frills to make it like a
really fun experience for the people
going to her rallies I'm glad you said
that is it a situation in which they
just have more money than they know how
to spend or do they actually see
benefits from doing these kinds of
things you know the Drone show and the
light up bracelets and things like that
well you know I think what it is is that
because they have this extra money you
know they feel like they can things like
the Drone show to try to reach people in
different you know corners of America
that that might not otherwise be plugged
into to political messaging and then on
the other side it's just about you know
really energizing their supporters and
making sure that they are excited and
want to get out in November that's
really interesting I know we said at the
top we mentioned that there was a big
fundraising disparity in this campaign
but I want to break that down a little
bit because I think that a lot of times
these numbers are pretty impenetrable to
people like you'll see reports about
this candidate raised x amount in the
third quarter and this candidate raised
x amount in August can you just break
down for me how much more money the
Harris campaign has than the Trump
campaign right now and how much more
it's raising yeah the most recent
campaign Finance reports that we have
which are the the reports that they have
to file to the federal election
commission um so their verifiable
numbers are from August and in August
Harris outraised Trump by more than four
to one so that's just a huge Advantage
now of course that is just her campaign
alone so that doesn't count like the RNC
the Republican National Committee and
the Democratic National Committee that
are spending now in coordination um with
the Harris campaign and the Trump
campaign but even there you know if you
combine what the Harris campaign raised
and the DNC they raised 258 million and
then the Trump campaign and the RNC
together raised 83 million so you can
see that it's really across the board
and my colleagues Michael sheer and Josh
dossy and N mores did a really great
piece kind of breaking down the spending
itself and in that piece they found
basically that the the size of Harris's
campaign is basically like three times
as big as Trump's campaign so that just
gives you a sense of the scale and how
much bigger the organization is both in
staff um you know what they can spend in
ads there's just a huge money Advantage
there yeah I wanted to dive into that a
little bit more because this is really
interesting to me I think at the
beginning of this cycle there was a lot
of talk about how Trump's campaign was a
little bit more of a professional
operation than it used to be you know
especially relative to the 2016 campaign
where he kind of came out of nowhere and
relied a lot on social media and digital
ads and things like that there was a lot
of talk about how Trump's campaign was
really taking this more seriously and
was kind of more of a traditional
operation so is it more that the Harris
campaign is just that big or is it that
the Trump campaign is also pretty
small well I think that the Trump
campaign certainly Prides themselves on
being a leaner more efficient operation
you know James Blair who runs the the
Pol iCal side and oversees all the
ground game stuff that's happening
talked about how when he came in he did
actually an audit of the 2020 campaign
and looked at all of the ways in which
he thought that that previous campaign
wasted money basically you know whether
it was having too much ground
organization in the states or he drilled
down the numbers to like how much it
cost per vote and so they came in with a
mandate to run like a a much leaner more
efficient machine and that's what
they're doing relying a lot on some of
these outside groups to help them with a
ground game but I think the other thing
that we have to remember is that Biden
did have a bigger operation from the
beginning but he also was struggling
toward the end to raise as much money as
he needed to support that operation
there was a point this summer where
actually after Trump was convicted in
the Manhattan case in the Manhattan case
of those felony counts Trump at that
point actually started to Eclipse Biden
in how much he was Raising and there
were obviously a lot of donors that were
really concerned about Biden who were
withholding checks and so when kamla
Harris entered the race it was like this
volcano of democratic fundraising
enthusiasm and I think that is you know
in part what is fueling this huge
disparity that we see here there were a
lot of donors that were not giving her
AIDS have said that almost 3 million
donors who contributed in August that
about a third of them were giving for
the first time this cycle so there's
that newness that freshness and that is
in part driving the disparity that we're
seeing one thing I'm really interested
in in these numbers and you mentioned it
when you were going over the kind of
Topline numbers of how much money these
campaigns have is that the Trump
campaign is relying a lot more on
outside groups on super packs that are
running ads for them the kind of
drawback here is that those groups
whether they're running ads or doing a
ground operation that's helping the
Trump campaign they're prohibited in
certain ways from coordinating with the
Trump campaign so the Trump campaign has
less control over them they might have
different priorities than the Trump
campaign that don't exactly match up can
you just talk a little bit about what it
means that all of this money that kind
of helps them close the gap at least
somewhat is being uh spent by these
outside groups rather than the Trump
campaign or the Republican National
Committee themselves yeah well one big
thing that changed this year which is a
little bit in the weeds but the Federal
Election Commission issued this opinion
that the campaigns could actually
coordinate with outside groups
specifically on the ground game they
can't get in a rim together and say we
want you to put this message in the ads
but they can discuss like the voters
that they're targeting and where they're
targeting so the Trump campaign has been
able to work pretty closely with some of
these outside groups that are focused on
the ground game including one of the
packs that Elon Musk is involved with
for example so on that side there is
some permitted coordination and then on
the ad side you've got packs like Maga
Inc and The Preserve America super pack
that's uh bankrolled by billionaire
Miriam adelon who of course her husband
was Sheldon Adon who was the CEO and
chairman of the casino Company Las Vegas
stands and he was a mega Republican
donor for many years and she has now
taken over that role within the party
and that group is planning to spend as
much as 100 million on ads the cycle but
what's interesting is that they are run
by people who have been in the trusted
Trump orbit over the years and so I
think there has been like a real
alignment in the sense that they take
their cues from the messaging that Trump
is putting out there and then kind of
adapt that into their ads so for example
we've seen Maga Inc which is basically
bankroll by Timothy melon their
reclusive ER to the melon family um
doing a lot of ads on immigration for
example echoing Trump's message that
kamla Harris has allowed this you know
Invasion across the border and that she
would be weak on on immigration so I
mean I think that the messages have been
targeted in that sense that they do
align but but there is of course a huge
risk there and we should mention that
the future forward pack on the
Democratic side which is totally an
outside group is doing a lot of the
messaging for kamla Harris's campaign
but again these are people that are you
know have been in the the Democratic
orbit for so long that there's a bit of
a mind meld I think the bigger question
is whether these outside groups that the
Trump campaign is relying on from the
ground game really all have their act
together um and you know even with that
coordination if they can follow through
on the kind of things that you need to
turn out voters in those final important
days as much as you know if you had an
in-house operation you'd have a lot more
control and be able to see you know the
reports back and and they will be able
to see some of that but it's just a
riskier Gamble and it's something that
Republicans in the states are a lot more
nervous about this cycle yeah I think we
should note that the you know people
might be wondering why this money is
going to Super Pacs instead of the
campaigns the advantage of super Pacs of
course is that they can raise unlimited
amounts of money whereas the campaigns
are subject to contribution limit so you
have to rely on millions of Voters to
fund your campaign but you can have
somebody like Timothy melon or Miriam
Adon come in and drop tens of millions
of dollars in a super pack and basically
fund the entire thing and so that's why
these super Pacs help Trump close the
gap it's with much fewer people being
involved but It ultimately uh is a very
substantial amount of money the other
thing that I was really thinking about
as you were talking about you know the
Mind meld that exists between between
the super Pacs and the campaigns this
has really been a process for campaigns
over the years like they've figured out
ways to get around the rules as far as
not being able to coordinate between the
campaign and the super pack so I'm
remembering a number of years ago when
these campaigns started posting random
b-roll of their candidates on YouTube so
that the super Pacs could take that
footage and use it in their ads there
was a campaign organization that opened
up a Twitter account that basically
nobody followed and nobody knew about
that would post coded messages directing
their Allied groups about where to spend
money and how to spend money and so you
technically can't directly coordinate
but there are ways to get around this
and as you mentioned these uh super Pacs
can certainly take their cues from the
things that the campaigns are saying and
you know where they're spending their
money to get a sense for what's desired
by those campaigns and I think the
version of that that we're seeing this
cycle is that like the Trump Campaign
Will leak out like a memo you know of
what their strategy is you know let's
say in Georgia or in the different swing
States and then the Super PAC will put
out their memo about where they're
planning to spend their money in the
coming months or where they've placed
their ad buys and the other thing is
that the actual super packs themselves
like Maga Inc and preserve America are
coordinating very closely so in some
cases coordinating between themselves
like with each other between themselves
not with the campaign yeah exactly so
that like one of them is spending more
in you know Michigan Wisconsin
Pennsylvania the other one's spending
more in North Carolina Georgia
Pennsylvania so there's that sort of
division of labor that's happening
within the super PX that's really
interesting yeah it's kind of like you
guys take these states and we'll take
these states and and all it'll all work
out just fine we're going to take a
quick break there but when we come back
what all of this cash may or may not
mean in the final weeks before election
day we'll be right
[Music]
back so ma I'd like to talk now about
not just how much money these campaigns
have but where each party seems to be
spending money we've talked before on
this podcast about how the Trump
campaign strategy seemed to be focused
more on Pennsylvania North Carolina and
Georgia kind of the Eastern swing States
while uh Harris's campaign seem to focus
more on Pennsylvania Wisconsin and
Michigan so kind of the northern swing
States you know to be clear they are all
spending money across these swing States
it's not like a given campaign is you
know conceding a state but have things
shifted when it comes to what states
these campaigns are emphasizing and
targeting and how much do we believe
that they've really really honed in on
these specific paths to
Victory well I think that both sides are
arguing that they have multiple paths to
Victory and that the margin is so close
in all of these seven swing states that
they can't even do what Democrats have
done in the past you know just relying
on the blue wall like they believe that
the margins are being like Pennsylvania
Wisconsin and Michigan is how Biden
campaign kind of pitched that yes so
they are basically arguing that you know
they have to make a push in all of these
states they can't just rely on One path
or another you know and I think that
that the Trump campaign also sees it as
being that close we still are seeing the
most money according to ad impact on ads
being spent in Pennsylvania and Michigan
and then Georgia but a lot of money also
being spent in North Carolina then
further down the list Arizona Wisconsin
and Nevada but you also see the
candidates you can kind of you know
watch the patterns by where the
candidates are going kamla Harris has
been to Nevada now she was there uh the
week before last she's going to be there
again this week it's certainly not a
state that they are ignoring even though
it kind of usually tends to be
prioritized less so you really do see
this kind of allout Sprint in all of
these states I I was really struck in
the the ad impact numbers that you
mentioned about the lack of an
investment in Nevada especially on
Trump's side like it was I think two to
one was the advantage for the Harris
campaign as far as spending in Nevada I
think there's less investment in it
because it is the smallest electoral
vote prize of the swing States it's only
six electoral votes but that can wind up
mattering in a in a very close race
which looks to be what we have at this
point absolutely may I also want to talk
to you a little bit about money outside
of the presidential race specifically in
the house in the Senate these are of
course very close races The House
Republicans have a very slim majority in
the house senate Democrats have a very
slim majority of their own both are in
danger it could kind of go either way
just like the the presidential race can
is there a sense in those races that the
Republican party is also struggling for
funds at this point or is it a little
bit of a different
story you know I think that this has
been a particularly in the house races
uh this has been a concern for
Republicans all year one of the big
concerns when Kevin McCarthy was ousted
as Speaker of the House was that he had
been just a total fundraising Juggernaut
he really took care of his house
candidates and raised tons of money for
them and when Mike Johnson who was a
much less known Congressman took over as
house Speaker he just didn't have that
same fundraising profile and he was
still putting his operation together and
so there was this real imbalance in some
of the house races and that has
continued throughout uh this year but
you know on the Senate side it's just
been so interesting because Republicans
have really concentrated their money you
know in a couple of key States like Ohio
and Pennsylvania Montana there also is
just this concern that there's a trickle
down effect with Trump you know raising
less money than Democrats and maybe
doing less to help um some of the
candidates who really need it in those
down ballot races past presidential
Republican candidates have been more
generous than Trump has in helping with
down ballot races and so I think that is
continuing to be a concern for the GOP
as things move forward and Republicans
really starting to get some some Jitters
about that yeah and of course KLA
Harris's campaign has sent I think it
was $25 million to Congressional
Democrats campaigns we haven't seen a
similar investment from Trump I'm also
recalling back in the 2020 cycle after
Trump lost in the general election and
we still had these Georgia special
elections that were going to be
determining control of the Senate and
Trump was a lot more focused on his own
election contest than trying to help
Republicans win the Senate necessarily
which I think was part of the reason
after January 6th that some Republicans
were content to try and distance
themselves from this guy because they
felt like he wasn't really being a team
player uh we don't need to get into his
brand right yeah exactly we don't need
to get into all of that today but um Ma
I also wanted to talk to you about the
actual impact of this money I I think
that after the 2016 election Donald
Trump was pretty well outspent and of
course he won and there was a lot of
talk about like well does campaign money
actually really matter in politics
anymore you know we're so polarized as a
country and you can get your message out
in so many other ways that are pretty
cheap you know social media things like
that it's been interesting to me that
Democrats have been spending more than
Republicans in this election cycle for a
while now we reported last October when
Joe Biden was still in the race that he
was planning to spend tens of millions
of dollars to boost his poll numbers and
of course that didn't really seem to
work very well what's your take on like
how much this all matters and could make
a difference in the end well I think
that's what what we're all watching for
I mean it's it is so striking the
numbers that we've been talking about
and the fact that they you know really
haven't moved haris in any significant
way ahead of trump that the race is
still basically a tie even though she
has this enormous spending advantage and
I think that that does reflect as you
said how where we are as a country how
polarized the electorate is how baked in
the electorate is I mean I think it'll
probably knock our socks off when we see
like how much was spent per vote um at
the end of this cycle but you know she
has been able also as we mentioned to
spend so much more on digital ads
desktop and mobile almost a three to one
advantage as my uh colleagues found in
in their spending story you know so
we'll see if those messages get to that
that tiny sliver of Voters that they're
trying to persuade but it is really
striking that there's so much money
being spent for so few people you know
changing their minds yeah the the way I
look at it is
always of course it matters to some
degree maybe it doesn't matter as much
as it used to like it's not going to
shift the race by Five Points because
that's just not the country that we live
in right now basically nothing is
Shifting this race by five points but
when you do have a race that's this
close and you have enough money to get a
little bit of an advantage in turning
people out or you have this money that
is going to introduce your candidate
like if you're blanketing the airwaves
defining kamla Harris that's an
advantage right now if you're doing that
a lot more than the ads that the Trump
campaign and its Allied super packs are
running and so that's kind of why I
think this ultimately could matter even
if it doesn't show up as kind of a
landslide victory that is commensurate
with the financial advantage that they
have yeah it'll be really interesting to
watch I did want to close with a
question that's been on my mind as we're
talking about this money and you know
we've been mentioning the ground
operation and advertising and kind of
all the direct things that this money
can lead to but I think the flip side of
that is what the money
signifies what does it say that one of
these candidates is getting a lot more
people to contribute money to her
campaign does that say something about
enthusiasm in this race that Trump is
being so far out raised and that his
donors really aren't stepping up for him
in a way that harrises are you know I
think we'll get a better sense of that
when we get the next round of campaign
Finance reports on October 15th October
15 um yeah so because a lot of Trump's
small dollar donations go through a
organization called win red so we'll be
able to look at at a comparison of his
small dollar donors when we get to that
juncture by looking at those win red
reports compared to his past campaigns
whereas you know we have been able to
see in more granular detail Harris's
small dollar donations because act blue
which is wi Red's counterpart we we do
have that data and so we're able to look
in a more granular way at this point but
I think it is a real question about that
drop off Trump has always had such a
huge small dollar base and there's a
theory out there among some Republicans
that I talk to that people are just have
been giving to him for so long that
they're just kind of exhausted by it you
know he was still raising just gobs of
money after the 2020 election you know
supposedly to help him with all of his
um election fights for example and then
on the flip side I do think that some of
the excitement for kamla Harris is just
kind of unique to her just that organic
enthusiasm within the Democratic party
feeling like they were locked in for so
long with Democratic candidates that
they just weren't that excited about and
she's someone who is new and fresh and
so she's able to tap into a different
audience but we will be looking at that
very question in more detail when we get
that next round of reports I'll be
marking my calendar for October 15th
just like I used to all those years ago
when I would pour through those FBC
reports every quarter um which is just a
terrible thing you know midnight on
Deadline I yeah I don't like the
midnight deadline I feel like noon would
be a better deadline for all of us yeah
definitely May thanks so much for
joining us and and talking through all
these things it's been really
interesting thank you so much for having
me I really appreciate
it Ma Ron is a national political
reporter covering the 2024 campaign in
the politics of the West for the
Washington Post we are so close to
election day and if you want to keep up
with everything that you should be
knowing about the campaigns make sure
you're subscribing to my newsletter also
called The Campaign moment you can find
a link in our show notes and at
postrecurrence
we'll be back in your feed Friday with
our regularly scheduled round table I'm
Aaron Blake see you later this week
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