Bunchy Carter
I'll Take The Money Over The Honey
Kamala Harris ANSA/EPA/JIM LO SCALZO
Time: 2 mins read
Despite raising a record $1 billion in just four months of campaigning, Kamala Harris left the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in the red with a debt of $20.5 million, after denying it for months. This figure includes air travel to move from one event to another, conducting election polls, music licenses, and the work of the Village Marketing Agency, an influencer agency. Immediately after the November election, the two parties reached an agreement to settle the remaining expenses, and the details of the agreement have only now emerged.
According to a New York Times investigation, Harris claimed to have broken even in the election as the party took care of paying off the debt. Silently, the former Democratic candidate repaid the sum to the DNC by asking for new donations from those who had supported her during the 2024 election campaign. Thus, donors, large and small, who were bombarded with hundreds of emails and messages in the first seven months of 2025, were not informed that nearly 20 cents of every dollar they donated was going to cover outstanding expenses. “We will immediately put your donation to work,” read a February communication, “to win the next election.”
In a June statement, party chairman Ken Martin, aware that the agreement with Harris was still in effect, said that the DNC “set a new record for the most money raised ever in the first four months under a new chair.” Not only that, but Harris’ campaign generated 50,000 new contacts and nearly $900,000 more.
As reported by Harris’ senior adviser, Kristen Allen, the donations served to expand “the basic infrastructure, increase popular support, and secure the resources to win for years to come.” Indeed, there were no violations in the allocation of funds because, between the end of 2024 and July 2025, the $20.5 million was listed as “party’s coordinated expenditures” in the DNC’s reports. Furthermore, ending a campaign with debt is not unusual: it happened to Barack Obama in 2012, and he did not pay it off until 2015. However, Harris’s campaign continued to deny this for months, while slowly eroding donor confidence.
The DNC started 2025 with $22.1 million in its bank account. Today, it has about $13.9 million, more than $60 million less than the Republican Party (which, in addition, also won the election).
Via:
Still hard to believe.
