Kamala Harris campaign raises $200m in first week

Sum reflects voter enthusiasm among Democrats after President Joe Biden stepped aside

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris salutes as she returns to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland after attending a campaign event in Massachusetts on Friday. AFP

Vice President Kamala Harris's election campaign said on Sunday it had raised $200 million in its first week of campaigning and signed up 170,000 new volunteers.

Two thirds of the haul was from first-time contributors in the 2024 election cycle, made after President Joe Biden announced his exit from the race and endorsed Ms Harris, the campaign said.

The money shows Democratic enthusiasm for Ms Harris, who polls show to be tied with Republican Donald Trump, who had been trouncing Mr Biden in polls until he dropped out of the race.

Mitch Landrieu, a campaign co-chair, told MSNBC that Harris “had one of the best weeks that we've seen in politics in the last 50 years”.

“This is going to be a very close race,” he said.

Mr Trump's campaign had $284.9 million in cash on hand at the end of June while the Democratic campaign had $240 million in cash on hand at the time.

Ms Harris has secured support from a majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, likely ensuring she will become the party's nominee for president next month.

“So our Vice President is the presumptive nominee. We will have the official vote on August 1,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison told MSNBC on Sunday.

US media meanwhile reported that Ms Harris has narrowed her shortlist of running mates to serve as her Vice President, if elected, down to three candidates: Mark Kelly, the senator for Arizona, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Republican attacks on Ms Harris, the first woman and first black and South Asian person to serve as US Vice President, have intensified in the days since she became the Democrats' likely presidential nominee.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who vied unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination before endorsing Mr Trump, told Fox News that Ms Harris was “incredibly vapid” and predicted Democrats would issue “a blizzard of lies” to distance Harris from the Biden administration's policies on immigration and other issues.

“They have to whitewash Harris's background to be able to make her palpable to the American people,” he said.