23 August 2024
Political news and events this summer have motivated far more Minnesota individuals to donate to President Biden and now Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign than to former President Trump’s, according to campaign finance data filed earlier this week.
The most dramatic spike from Minnesota donors came right after Biden dropped out of the race, and there were no similar sized increases in donations to Trump after the assisination attempt, nor after he named Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, according to a MinnPost analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.
Minnesotans responded to the first presidential debate on June 27 by donating over $179,000 to Biden’s campaign over the next following week. Republican wallets, on the other hand, hardly responded to the debate: Donations over the same week dropped to just over $27,000 from the previous week’s total of $39,000.
A much more substantial response came July 21, when Biden announced he would be dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. Campaign donations from Minnesotans to the Democratic ticket spiked to $267,000 on that day alone from $4,700 the day prior. That same day, Minnesota individual donations to the Trump campaign totaled $0.
After the initial donation spike on the day Biden dropped out, donations from Minnesotans to the Democratic ticket show more financial enthusiasm. Since July 24, daily total donations to the Harris campaign have increased nearly five times to an average of over $54,000. Before the Democratic ticket switched candidates, that daily average hovered around $12,000. The campaign filings currently available run through July 31, which was six days before Gov. Tim Walz was named Harris’ running mate.
Comparatively, the assassination attempt against Trump on July 13 made little discernible impact on Minnesotans’ donations to either presidential campaign. This contradicts notions from some Democrats at the time that the attack would lead to a wellspring of support for the Republican ticket. For example, the campaign used in a fundraising appeal the iconic photo of Trump raising his fist in the air on the Pennsylvania rally stage. Trump’s pick of JD Vance as his running mate similarly had little impact on individual Minnesota donations to the campaign.
It’s important to note that individual donations to Harris and Trump’s campaign committees represent a portion of all fundraising in the presidential race. Individual donors can give up to $3,300 to a candidate. This analysis does not include Minnesota contributions to political action committees that work independently to promote or attack a candidate.
The individual contribution trends, particularly the spike in donations to Harris after Biden dropped out, are similar to those seen nationally.
Michael Nolan is a freelance data journalist working with MinnPost ahead of the 2024 election.
The post Minnesota individual donations to Harris campaign surged after Biden dropped out appeared first on MinnPost.