Joe Biden’s decision on July 21 to drop out of the presidential race unleashed a gusher of cash that fundamentally changed the money race between Democrats and former President Donald J. Trump.
Fund-raising reports released on Tuesday night revealed in stark terms just how much the presidential campaign had transformed. The Biden campaign and its joint fund-raising committees with the Democratic Party raised about $1.5 million a day on average in the first three weeks of July, according to reports filed by ActBlue, a Democratic fund-raising platform. That was about 25 percent less than the campaign was raising daily in the month of June.
After Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee, her committees raised an average of $16.6 million over the final 11 days of July, leading to a monster fund-raising haul of $310 million total for the month.
The new data shows how July was one of the most unusual months in American political fund-raising history. Before Mr. Biden’s exit, Democrats were struggling to raise significant money. Then, after he revealed his decision in a single post on social media on a Sunday afternoon, Democrats began raising money hand over fist.
The Harris and Trump campaigns had already announced their top-line fund-raising figures for July. Democrats entered August in a stronger position than Republicans did, with about $50 million more in cash on hand, after out-raising them more than two-to-one. A fuller picture of how much money Ms. Harris raised won’t be available until her joint fund-raising committees file reports with the Federal Election Commission later this year.
A similar story played out among super PACs, the new reports reveal. Outside groups supporting Mr. Biden struggled to raise major money from millionaire and billionaire donors in the first three weeks of July. But once Mr. Biden dropped out of the race, money flowed. For example, Future Forward USA Action, the main presidential super PAC for Democrats, accepted $5 million from Marc Stad, a venture capitalist in San Francisco, on July 25.
July was also a decisive month for Republicans and Mr. Trump. Most notably, on July 15, the opening day of the Republican National Convention and two days after an assassin tried to kill Mr. Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, Timothy Mellon, a wealthy banking heir and railroad magnate, made a $50 million donation to a pro-Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc. That check, disclosed on Tuesday, was Mr. Mellon’s second $50 million contribution to the group; he has now spent $125 million this cycle to support Mr. Trump.
Mr. Mellon has also donated $25 million to a group backing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential bid. Mr. Kennedy appears to be having financial problems, according to his newly filed report. He entered August with only $3.9 million on hand, and his campaign disclosed $3.5 million in debts. This week his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, openly floated the possibility that Mr. Kennedy might drop out of the race and endorse Mr. Trump. Last month, Mr. Kennedy refunded more than $900,000 that Ms. Shanahan had donated to support their joint bid, according to the report.
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