Who has raised more money in KY for the 2024 election: Donald Trump or Kamala Harris?
Vice President Kamala Harris has collected more campaign dollars in Kentucky than former President Donald Trump.
The Democratic nominee for president has raised $3.6 million from people in the commonwealth, compared to Trump’s $3.2 million, according to the latest available data compiled by the Federal Election Commission.
The totals tally each candidate’s overall receipts, including contributions from the candidate, individual donors and other political committees. But much of the money in Harris’ account are transfers from when President Joe Biden was the candidate, through July 2024.
Contributors do not have to be disclosed unless their contributions aggregate to over $200, per federal law.
Whereas Trump earned 55,628 total donations from Kentuckians and Harris received 33,195, the former president’s contributions on average were much smaller than the vice president’s, explaining the relative parity between the competitors.
Most of Trump’s donors are low-dollar repeat contributors.
For example, a Jamestown resident is listed for 28 different donations, varying in amounts from 18 cents to $44 dollars. And a donor from Bowling Green is listed 128 times with an average contribution of just a few cents over many months.
Twenty-one percent of Kentucky’s 2024 campaign donations came from Louisville, whereas about 11% came from Lexington.
Kentucky is expected to be one of the states called first for Trump on election night. Polls close at 6 p.m. local time, with the commonwealth split between Eastern and Central time zones.
Trump carried Kentucky by 30 points in 2016 and by 26 points in 2020.
The last time Kentucky voted for a Democratic presidential candidate was in 1996, when Bill Clinton won the commonwealth.
Harris’ strength in deep red Kentucky is a demonstration of her exceptional ability as a fundraiser across the country. The former California senator surpassed $1 billion in total fundraising for her campaign earlier this month, with Trump trailing substantially, reporting around $388 million through mid-October.
Louisville, the commonwealth’s largest city, remains fertile ground for Democratic fundraising. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, raised money there just last week. Walz said the event brought in more than $2 million.
Walz, the current Minnesota governor, has become an integral fundraiser for Harris often taking in between $750,000 to $2 million per event, according to reports.
Trump running mate JD Vance appeared at a fundraiser in Lexington this summer, raking in $2 million for the GOP ticket.
In addition to Kentucky, Harris outpaced Trump in campaign cash in Indiana and Ohio, whereas Trump held the money advantage in Tennessee.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 11:10 AM.
