It was a record-breaking fundraising campaign: Vice President Kamala Harris raised more than $1 billion in less than four months after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July, all the while pushing for the U.S. presidency.

Now, as the dust settles on her failed bid following her November 5 loss to Donald Trump, a storm is threatening to brew over those finances after a Democratic National Convention (DNC) official revealed that Harris’ campaign is $20 million in debt. .

According to Open Secrets transparency nonprofit Harris war chest The more than $1 billion amount significantly dwarfed the approximately $382 million the Trump team received in the same time period.

So how did the Kamala Harris campaign go from overflowing treasury to debt?

Rapid rise, steep decline

Shortly after Biden withdrew from the presidential race following the disastrous debate against Trump, the Democratic Party consolidated around Harris and her candidacy.

Quickly, his campaign raised $200 million in the first week; this was 20 percent of the total $1 billion withdrawn for his campaign.

Money continued to flow, but it was also spent.

When Harris’ campaign filed its latest pre-election filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on October 16, $180,000 It remained in the kitty.

But earlier this week, DNC finance committee member Lindy Li told cable news network NewsNation that the Harris campaign is now $20 million in debt.

What did the Harris campaign spend money on?

According to data from Adimpact, a company that provides advertising intelligence and data solutions, the lion’s share of campaign expenditures was on advertising; approximately 654 billion dollars.

But FEC records show the campaign spent $20 million — nearly the same amount as the reported debt — on concerts and celebrity appearances in the final days before the election.

A lineup of celebrities including Jon Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Megan thee Stallion and Lady Gaga performed at rallies in battleground states on the eve of Election Day. Some experts say this may not be the wisest investment.

“Celebrity endorsements are greatly exaggerated. Just because you like someone’s music doesn’t mean they have political clout with you,” Louis Perron, political strategist and author of Beat the Incumbent: Proven Strategies and Tactics to Win Elections, told Al Jazeera. “Furthermore, young voters are unreliable to vote. is known.”

And “if this were a payment for the turnover, it would of course further reduce the value of the turnover”.

FEC records show the campaign paid $1 million to Oprah Winfrey’s production company.

Oprah denied receiving any money. “It’s not true. I was never paid anything,” the talk show star told TMZ.

According to a spokesperson for Oprah’s company, Harpo Productions, “The campaign covered production costs for the livestream event ‘Unite for America,’ which took place on September 19 outside Detroit, Michigan.”

“Oprah Winfrey never paid a personal fee during the campaign, nor did she receive a fee from Harpo,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Still, according to the DNC’s Li, this amounts to confusion. “(Oprah) may not have gotten paid personally, but it made money for her company. I think it’s a matter of semantics. He got paid,” he told NewsNation.

Oprah interviewed Harris at a town hall event in September and attended her final campaign rally in Philadelphia the day before Election Day.

Village Marketing Agency, which reportedly received $3.9 million for its services, was also among the companies that received significant payments. The firm’s primary mission was to mobilize thousands of social media influencers to support Harris in order to increase her appeal among young voters.

What were the Trump campaign spending like?

Although the Trump campaign raised $382 million while Harris raised more than $1 billion, outside groups such as Super PACs (political action committees) contributed about $711 million, according to an Oct. 26 report from Open Secrets. Outside groups similarly contributed more than $600 million to Harris; Including this, the war chest was more than $1.6 billion.

America PAC, a Super PAC created by Elon Musk, an ardent supporter of Trump, contributed $130 million.

He focused on door-to-door efforts to reach and mobilize voters. These activities have traditionally been led by the campaign itself and the political party, but the Super PAC was a key driving force behind increased voter turnout for Trump.

Why has campaign fundraising skyrocketed?

The 2024 US presidential campaign was not the costliest general election in the country’s history. According to Open Secrets, $7.7 billion was spent in the 2020 US presidential race between Joe Biden and Trump.

This year’s elections saw a total spending of $5.5 billion.

Yet these huge sums in campaign spending—more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of many small countries—are driven by a variety of factors, including the proliferation of Super PACs, the growing importance of digital marketing strategies, and record-breaking fundraising. The effort of every political party.

A landmark Supreme Court decision also played an important role. In 2010, Citizens United v. FEC was decided in a 5-4 split decision.

Conservative nonprofit Citizens United had challenged campaign finance regulations after the FEC blocked the promotion and release of a film critical of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton ahead of the 2008 election. Citizens United won.

This decision removed restrictions on companies and unions using treasury funds for independent expenditures and electioneering communications. As a result, special interest groups were able to allocate unlimited cash to political campaigns, provided they did not coordinate with official campaign activities. The far-reaching consequences of this decision fundamentally changed the landscape of political spending in elections.