MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow, reacting to Vice President Kamala Harris’ record fundraising haul in the 24 hours since President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 ticket and endorsed her to be his successor, noted that the amount surpassed what Donald Trump raised after becoming a criminal earlier this year.
She then added cheekily that Harris “didn’t have to commit any felonies at all to do it.”
In a press release Monday afternoon, Harris’ campaign announced $81 million in donations from more than 880,000 individual donors—about 60 percent of whom were first-time givers in the 2024 campaign.
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When Trump was found guilty in late May on all 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records to help his 2016 presidential campaign, he also had his best fundraising day. But at $53 million, it didn’t quite match Harris’ honeymoon haul.
On Monday, Maddow led off special coverage of Harris’ dramatic entry into the 2024 contest by contrasting the circumstances of the influx of cash to each candidate.
“The New York Times described this tonight as a ‘record-breaking showing as Democrats welcomed her candidacy with one of the greatest gushers of cash of all time.’ Indeed, it is believed to be the single largest day of fundraising by any candidate for any office in American history,” Maddow said.
“Incredibly, the Republican Party’s nearest boast to that is that they had a great day of fundraising…. Their best day of fundraising [was] on the day their candidate was convicted on 34 felony criminal charges. And they did have their best day that day. Trump raised about $53 million that day. Looks like Kamala Harris, all in, will roughly double that. And she didn’t have to commit any felonies at all to do it.”
Democratically-aligned fundraising platform ActBlue—which applies to down-ballot races as well—also saw a surge in donations, as did super PAC Future Forward, which received a $150 million commitment, Politico reported.
Relatedly, more than 28,000 new volunteers had signed up to help Harris’ White House bid.
