WASHINGTON: US Vice President Kamala Harris's election campaign said on Sunday it has raised $200 million and signed up 170,000 new volunteers in the week since she became the Democratic Party's presidential candidate.
President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on Sunday last week and endorsed Harris for the November 5 vote against Republican former President Donald Trump.
"In the week since we got started, @KamalaHarris has raised $200 million dollars. 66 per cent of that is from new donors. We've signed up 170,000 new volunteers," Harris' deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty, posted on X.
Polls over the past week, including one by Reuters/Ipsos, show Harris and Trump essentially tied, setting the stage for a close-fought campaign over the 100 days left until the election.
Trump's campaign said in early July it had raised $331 million from April through June and had $284.9 million in cash on hand.
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.
Biden withdrew from the race amid questions about his age and health following a faltering debate performance against Trump in late June. Biden pledged to remain in office as president until his term ends on January 20, 2025.
Harris' takeover has reenergised a campaign that had faltered badly amid Democrats' doubts about Biden's chances of defeating Trump or his ability to continue to govern had he won.
Polls showed that Trump had built a lead over Biden, including in battleground states, after Biden's disastrous debate performance.
A New York Times/Siena College national poll published Thursday found Harris has narrowed what had been a sizable Trump lead while Trump had a two percentage point lead over her in a Wall Street Journal poll published on Friday.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on July 23 showed a two point lead for Harris.
Mitch Landrieu, a campaign co-chair, said on 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.
Vice President harris cast herself as the "underdog" in the presidential race and called her Republican opponent Donald Trump "just plain weird," while Trump painted harris as "evil," "sick" and "unhinged" as the rivals exchanged barbs from afar on Saturday.
The dueling appearances capped a whirlwind week that saw harris ascend to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Joe Biden, 81, dropped his reelection bid under mounting pressure from his fellow Democrats. A series of polls indicate that harris' entry erased the lead Trump had enjoyed over Biden in a matter of days. - Reuters
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