Harris, Trump raise $250 million in July. Will it be most expensive election ever?

[RAY BOGAN]

Will the 2024 Presidential election be the most expensive ever? Based on July’s fundraising numbers, it could be by the time we reach November. 

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign announced it raised $204 million in July, that’s four times more than the $48 million reported by the Trump campaign. When the campaign and party totals are combined – it brings Harris to $310 million and Trump to $138 million. 

According to Reuters, there’s an important difference between money raised by the campaign and party because the campaigns by law get discounts on TV advertisements while the parties have to pay full price. 

Harris spent significantly more than Trump too. According to the FEC, the Democratic nominee’s campaign shelled out $84 million compared to the Republican’s $24 million. 

Now campaigns like to talk about small donors and funding from ordinary people, but make no mistake, the ultra-wealthy are giving tens of millions a month to Super Pacs. 

Timothy Mellon, heir to the Mellon banking fortune, gave $50 million in July to the Make America Great Again Super Pac which supports Donald Trump. That brings his total political contributions this cycle to $150 million. He’s given to Trump, RFK Jr., and other organizations. 

Michael Bloomberg, who made his fortune on his information services company, gave $10 million in July to the House Majority Pac which focuses on helping Democrats. Bloomberg gave $20 million in May to the FF Pac when Biden was the nominee, that same Pac now supports Harris. 

So will this presidential election set a new spending record? According to OpenSecrets the candidates have so far raised more than a billion dollars. The 2020 Presidential election is the current record holder, with $5.7 billion spent on the Trump-Biden matchup.