As Vice President Harris and former President Donald Trump enter the most expensive stretch of the election, their respective spending habits say a lot about the state of the race. And while polls may be tight, the money race isn’t — Harris is outspending Trump by approximately $5 million every single day, according to the most recent federal filings.
The spending divide is particularly apparent in swing states, with the amounts doled out reflecting the importance of each race. Harris is outspending Trump in ad buys in every single swing state, Bloomberg reported based on data from AdImpact.
Both candidates are dumping the most money into Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes, but Harris’ spending in ad buys through election day dwarfs Trump’s — $195.8 million to his $77.9 million.
In terms of ad buys in other battleground states, Harris is spending the most in Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Nevada, in that order. Trump’s campaign is following a relatively similar pattern. He is devoting ad buy resources to Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona, North Carolina, and then Nevada, in that order.
Neither the Trump nor Harris campaigns immediately responded to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Harris proved her remarkable fundraising abilities again this weekend, when she raked in $27 million from an event on Wall Street on Sunday afternoon. Attendees included finance executives, Anne Hathaway, and Whoopi Goldberg, and was Harris’ highest-grossing fundraising event since becoming the Democratic nominee. The event took place at Cipriani Wall Street, a lavish Greek revival venue, and tickets cost as much as $1 million, the New York Times reported.
Though Harris’ 25-minute remarks hit on many of her standard talking points, she gave a notable nod to crypto and AI in an attempt to woo the Big Business guests.
“We will encourage innovative technologies like A.I. and digital assets, while protecting our consumers and investors,” Harris said. Many of her biggest donors hail from Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Earlier this month, nearly 100 current and former CEOs penned a letter endorsing Harris.
Trump has billionaire donors of his own, including secretive billionaire Timothy Mellon and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man.
Still, the money disparity persists. Outside PACs supporting Harris are spending more than those backing Trump. Between Labor Day and Election Day, the Vice President and supporting groups are on track to spend $559 million on advertising, compared to $306 million by Trump and his aligned groups.
Democrats are also ahead in terms of get-out-the vote efforts and field operations. In battleground states, Harris has more than 333 campaign offices. But Trump may not need to spend as much himself in that arena, as Musk is providing significant support. Musk’s America PAC devotes much of its energy and money to canvassing and field operations — it spent $15.5 million on such efforts in August alone.
Trump is outspending Harris in terms of direct mail by a ratio of approximately three-to-one. But with two fundraising events next weekend in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the Vice President doesn’t seem like she’s slowing down the cash dash any time soon.
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