Heavily outraise

Harris continued to heavily outraise and outspend Trump in early October

Political advertising was the single biggest expense for both campaigns.

Jessica Piper

Kamala Harris is flush with cash for the final sprint of the presidential campaign, while Donald Trump continues to lag behind.

Harris’ campaign reported $97 million raised in the first half of October, according to new reports filed late Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. For Trump’s campaign, that figure was just $16 million.

The picture looked slightly better for Trump when looking at his overall political operation, including money raised through joint fundraising committees, but Harris still maintained a significant advantage, with $176 million raised across her network compared to $97 million for Trump when including his affiliated fundraising groups.

Harris’ massive fundraising momentum since she replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket in July has allowed her to outspend Trump on advertising, field work and other campaign expenses all fall.

And the new financial records show Harris’ campaign continued to significantly outspend Trump over the first 16 days of October — dropping just shy of $166 million compared to $99 million for the former president’s campaign. Paid media was by far the greatest expense category for both Harris and Trump, accounting for $127 million in spending by the Democrat’s campaign and $88 million from Trump’s campaign.

But Harris’ fundraising was so strong that she still hit the mid-month mark with more cash on hand. She was left with $119 million in her campaign account as of Oct. 16 compared to $36 million for Trump. Including joint fundraising committees, she maintained an advantage of $240 million to $168 million. (Some of that money will go directly to Harris’ and Trump’s campaigns, while some of it is designated for other groups, including the Republican National Committee, Democratic National Committee and state parties.)

Both Harris and Trump also continued to receive significant super PAC support in early October. SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk dropped another nearly $44 million into his pro-Trump America PAC. The pro-Harris FF PAC got $25 million from Facebook co-founder-turned-Asana CEO Dustin Moskovitz, bringing his total giving to the group to $38 million this cycle. FF PAC also received $40 million through its affiliated nonprofit, which does not disclose its donors.