Both Harris and Trump are poised to blow through hundreds of millions of dollars of campaign money in a matter of weeks before Election Day. Harris’s takeover at the top of the ticket this summer catapulted Democrats’ fundraising, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission and the campaign. The Biden and Harris campaigns and allied committees have reported raising more than $1.1 billion this year through August.
The Trump campaign declined to provide a figure for the year, but its statements and FEC filings total at least $720 million. A senior Trump adviser said the campaign would continue to raise the money it needs to execute a winning strategy.
Here is a look at spending this year by the candidates’ principal campaign committees, their related PACs and their respective party committees.
The biggest chunk of spending for each campaign has gone to advertising, with the Biden and Harris campaigns shelling out around $346 million so far this year on radio, television and digital ads, compared with about $147 million for the Trump campaign, according to their FEC filings.
The campaigns’ advertising spend will be even greater than the filings show, according to data from the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. All told, the Harris campaign has aired or reserved $647 million in ads between January and Election Day. The Trump campaign has booked $273 million. And those totals don’t include spending by their supporting super PACs. Harris’s team said it reserved ad space early to lock in slots on such shows as “The Golden Bachelorette” premiere on ABC. This summer, the Harris campaign also started buying ad time on Fox News in a bid for more centrist Republicans.
The Biden and Harris campaigns reported spending about $72 million on payroll and consulting this year through August. Of more than 1,300 people in FEC disclosures whose expenses were categorized as payroll, payments ranged from $220 to about $126,000 (for Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison ). The Trump campaign shelled out just over $35 million in payroll and consulting through August. The most expensive person named was the campaign adviser Jason Miller , who was paid $240,000 during that period.
The campaigns have divergent tastes when it comes to feeding staff and catering events. The Harris campaign in August had a $1,199 tab from Boss Queens Soul Cafe in Norfolk, Va.; two trips totaling $6,698 to Brew Tea Bar, a tea and boba shop in Las Vegas; and several taco stops. The Trump campaign foraged for fast food, hitting McDonald’s 18 times in August, Chick-fil-A 10 times and Waffle House six times. undefined undefined The Harris campaign beat the heat with frozen treats this summer. The campaign spent more than $40,000 at ice cream stores in August, including $1,418 at the gourmet Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and $34,138 at the Las Vegas-based dessert company La Flor De Michoacan, whose menu also includes savory foods.
Kamala Harris staged a series of big rallies in August, costing her campaign more than $4 million. The campaign paid more than half a million dollars in rental and production costs to a stadium for Harris’s Arizona campaign rally. And the Harris campaign paid $281,250 to a company that makes the light-up LED wristbands that the campaign is handing out to attendees.
Trump spent just over $750,000 on event and security expenses in August. But the former president has overall spent more this year—$16.8 million—on venue rentals and other rally-related expenses than Harris and Biden, whose campaigns spent $14.7 million overall.
Source: Federal Election Commission
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