Democratic grassroots groups say they have a funding shortfall of more than $100 million for their work to get out the vote, which could be the difference between Kamala Harris’ victory and former President Donald Trump’s defeat.
Organizers told Newsweek there is a big gap between what the Harris campaign has raised and what they themselves have to spend. They said groups at both national and state levels had been forced to alter their ground game strategies because of their shortages of funds, which could also affect down-ballot U.S. House and Senate races.
Last week, some groups published memos to the vice president saying that the campaign’s mass communications efforts on television and digital platforms would not be enough to secure support from swing state voters in rural areas or among demographic groups, including Black, Latino, Asian and young voters.
“Here we are, 40 days to go. It’s crunch time. We’ve got to have a major intervention,” Movement Voter Project (MVP) spokesperson Zo Tobi told Newsweek. Its memo said its groups faced a $165 million shortfall.
Democratic donor advisory group Blue Tent also issued a memo saying a shift in campaign spending was needed.
“The balance of funding to date has been heavy on TV, digital, and other impersonal methods of mass communication. Funding has been inadequate for scaling up the in-person and individualized communication from local trusted messengers, which have proven to be most effective in both turning out and persuading infrequent Democratic voters,” it said.
Neither group said what response they had received from the Harris campaign to their memos.
Grassroots groups said they were not seeking funds from the Harris campaign itself but wanted more funds directed by donors to support the effort to get out the vote.
Newsweek reached out to the Harris and Trump campaigns for comment.
Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty
Denny Salas, senior vice president of Gotham Government Relations and an ex-consultant to numerous Democratic representatives and senators, told Newsweek that grassroots groups’ concerns are “just the usual election cycle posturing.”
Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show Harris has a large fundraising advantage over her Republican rival, former President Trump. In August, her campaign raised approximately $190 million while spending $174 million. In contrast, the Trump campaign reported $43 million in fundraising while spending about $61 million.
The Trump campaign has raised upward of $720 million in total. The Harris campaign has raised $1.1 billion, including donated money before she replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate.
Grassroots groups are financially independent from the campaigns.
Tobi said MVP groups had raised over $64 million for the 2024 election compared to $45 million for 2020, but the higher amount was eaten up by inflation and because they were targeting more than just elections—with money going into digital communications, countering misinformation, strengthening state parties, Supreme Court issues and other down-ballot races.
Pivots on Strategy
“There is more money overall, but it’s being spread among a broader array of strategies. A lot of donors who funded the ground game in 2020 have pivoted to other strategies, leaving an outsized gap,” Tobi said.
MVP has focused on nine states with presidential and congressional implications: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. That includes swing states whose Electoral College votes will decide the presidency in a race that polls show to be neck and neck.
AdImpact estimates that the current election cycle’s expenditures across all mediums will be the most expensive ever at some $10.2 billion, about 13 percent more costly than the 2020 race ($9.02 billion).
Tobi of the MVP said its estimate for the funding gap for organizations that it funds directly was $165 million, but adding in other groups with similar interests, the overall shortfall could be as high as $300 million.
Blue Tent founder David Callahan told Newsweek that Democratic electoral successes in recent cycles had relied on a two-pronged effort on behalf of Democratic Party committees and larger donors and a grassroots ecosystem that has excelled in reaching specific constituencies.
He said there are “not great” lines of communication between the Harris campaign, Democratic Super PACs and the grassroots groups.
“The best way to reach the top Democratic establishment players is through the media,” he said. “I wouldn’t say the Harris Campaign has a ‘lack of urgency’ or is giving grassroots groups the cold shoulder…It’s more that they’re doing their thing and doing it well but not thinking as much as they should about all the other stuff that needs to happen to win and how to resource it.”
Harris has over 300 field offices in battleground states. Blue Tent said there were 700-plus during Barack Obama‘s 2008 campaign.
One example of a grassroots group is People’s Action, a network of more than 1 million members across 30 states that works year-round to galvanize voters. Canvassing accelerates in election years, with more than 20,000 volunteers targeting more than 250,000 voters in key states in 2020 and higher numbers predicted this cycle. This cycle is about 40,000 volunteers, reaching roughly half a million potential voters.
The gap between what they have and what they say they need is about $2.2 million, according to MVP. That could hamper efforts in Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—all battleground states.
“Deep canvassing is the antidote to what I think we’re facing: a lot of people who don’t have institutions that they can trust or individuals that they can trust,” People’s Action Executive Director Sulma Arias told Newsweek.
In Georgia, the Asian American Advocacy Fund (AAAF) helped Democrats secure victories during recent election cycles. However, a current $1.1 million gap has led to scaling back since primary elections, AAAF spokesperson Chany Chea told Newsweek. She said paid communications and other voter outreach had been affected.
“We know that the pathway to the White House runs through Georgia and requires a strong multi-racial ground game,” Chea said. “Without funding groups like AAAF and our partners, Harris will have a hard time securing the margins.”
Fran Hutchins, executive director of the Equality Federation, told Newsweek that the organization’s 49 member groups across 40 states had fundraised well, but the LGBTQ+ rights group needed additional funds to counter state-based policies against trans rights, for example.
UNITE HERE, the largest national labor-led effort to get out the vote, with 1,800 union members and volunteers knocking on doors in 10 states, said it had received more donations after MVP’s memo and that its funding gap had fallen from $10.1 million to $9.4 million.
Spokesperson Meghan Cohorst told Newsweek that UNITE HERE reached 3 million voters in 2020. Compared to the same time in 2020, they have raised about $4 million more. But scaling efforts for mail-in balloting is crucial, Cohorst said.
“Our canvassing program is highly effective because our canvassers are union members,” she said.
Conor Dowling, a professor of political science at the University at Buffalo, said jostling between multiple campaign apparatuses is normal.
“Campaigns often ramp up spending on the ground game during the last month or two of the election, so that very well could be where the Harris campaign intends to start spending a greater proportion of their funds as Election Day approaches—either on their own operations or in concert with other entities as well,” Dowling said.
