WASHINGTON - US Vice-President Kamala Harris’ campaign set a record for the biggest fund-raising quarter ever this fall, raising US$1 billion (S$1.32 billion) in the three-month period that ended Sept 30.

       Ms Harris’ campaign and its allied party committees said they raised US$378 million in September alone, compared with the US$160 million reported by former President Donald Trump’s campaign and allied groups.

       Ms Harris and her groups said they entered October with US$348 million on hand; Trump’s aides said his campaign and its affiliated groups had US$283 million.

       The vast gap between Ms Harris’ and Trump’s committees was laid bare in new filings made with the Federal Election Commission on the evening of Oct 20. The figures show the state of the race as of the end of September, and they capture the fallout of the presidential debate that month, which Ms Harris was widely perceived to have won.

       The figures may be new but the story is familiar.

       Each month since Ms Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee, she has significantly outraised and outspent Trump, building a vastly bigger campaign than the Republican nominee.

       In September, the margin by which Ms Harris’ principal campaign committee outraised Trump was nearly identical to the margin by which she outspent him – about 3.5 to 1.

       Ms Harris’ committee raised about US$222 million in September, while Trump’s raised about US$63 million. Ms Harris’ committee entered October with about US$187 million on hand; Trump’s committee had just about US$120 million.

       The vast majority of both campaign committees’ spending was on advertising. About US$222 million of the US$270 million that Ms Harris’ campaign spent in September was on media buys and production costs. Trump spent about US$53 million on media costs, a slightly smaller proportion of the US$78 million that his campaign spent during that 30-day period.

       The previous record for a fund-raising quarter across all party committees is believed to have been set by current President Joe Biden in the third quarter of 2020, when his campaign and allied groups reported about US$888 million in total fund-raising, based on self-reported totals.

       Both Ms Harris and Trump, combined with their party committees, raised less in September 2024 than the corresponding efforts in 2020. Ms Harris’ US$378 million was less than the record-setting US$383 million that Mr Biden’s team raised in September 2020. Trump’s US$160 million in September 2024 is less than the US$248 million he raised in September 2020.

       Trump has consistently raised less money than during his last run for president, in part because his low-dollar fund-raising apparatus is struggling to keep up with its pace four years ago. Ms Harris, for her part, is doing better at fund-raising than Mr Biden, who for a few months this year was raising less each month than Trump.

       To deal with the cash crunch, the Trump campaign has recently been working to cut costs by offloading some traditional campaign expenditures, such as event-production fees and some salary costs, to party-affiliated committees.

       The Republican National Committee entered October with US$69.7 million on hand. The RNC disclosed spending about US$3.5 million on payroll and taxes to about 340 staff members in September.

       The Democratic National Committee had US$46.6 million on hand, after spending some US$102 million during September. The DNC disclosed spending US$6 million on payroll and taxes to about 680 people that month, twice as many people.

       Campaigns and party committees typically work to spend their cash down to zero, although both campaigns are aware that post-election litigation could require additional funds.

       Given her cash advantage, Ms Harris has been able to spend more of her time, a precious resource in these final weeks, campaigning – while Trump has had to spend time raising money in places like Texas and Florida, where he hosted a finance event on Oct 16. Trump has also scheduled a fund-raising reception in New York preceding his coming rally at Madison Square Garden.

       Ms Harris can also spend more money on voter contact. She and her supporters are scheduled to outspend Trump and his backers on television and radio advertising by about 30 per cent over the final two weeks of the campaign, according to data from AdImpact. That is actually a smaller gap than the 60 per cent spending advantage that the Democrats enjoyed over the Republicans in the past two weeks.

       Those supporters are primarily Ms Harris’ enormous super political action committees (PAC). Ms Harris’ team has laboured to keep attention on the Republican billionaires funding Trump’s super PAC, but members rarely discuss their own at Future Forward, the main big-money pro-Harris group. A few Democratic billionaires disclosed eight-figure checks to Future Forward in September: Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen gave about US$10 million each, and Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois gave US$5 million.

       Future Forward’s biggest donor, though, continues to be undisclosed: About 40 per cent of the money that the super PAC raised in September came from its own dark-money group. And the group has spent around US$125 million on ads over just the past two weeks, making its US$70 million cash-on-hand sum as of Sept 30 outdated and strongly suggesting that the super PAC raised significant money in early October.

       Trump’s super PACs disclosed most big supporters earlier last week, but the disclosures on Oct 20 revealed new contributions by one of Trump’s strongest supporters. Mr Timothy Mellon, the reclusive heir to the Gilded Age banking fortune, put US$25 million more into a pro-Trump super PAC, Maga Inc. Mr Mellon has now donated a staggering US$150 million this cycle to that group, which entered October with US$59 million on hand. Trump’s recently appointed transition co-chair, Ms Linda McMahon, also donated US$5 million. The group entered October with US$61 million on hand.

       In an aberration from its traditional communications strategy, Ms Harris’ campaign declined to disclose any of its fundraising totals to reporters until it officially filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Oct 20. Campaign officials were concerned that if donors large and small knew in early October about how well they had done during the preceding month, that they would raise less in the ensuing weeks of October, people familiar with the strategy have previously said.

       Another portrait of presidential fundraising will emerge on Oct 24, when campaigns and super PACs report money raised and spent through the first half of October.