ATLANTA (AP) — Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party's prodigious fundraising operation raised more than $1 billion in her loss to Donald Trump, but the vice president is still pushing donors for more money after the election.
Democrats are sending persistent appeals to Harris supporters without expressly asking them to cover any potential debts, enticing would-be donors instead with other matters: the Republican president-elect's picks for his upcoming administration and a handful of pending congressional contests where ballots are still being tallied.
“The Harris campaign certainly spent more than they raised and is now busy trying to fundraise,” said Adrian Hemond, a Democratic strategist from Michigan. He said he was been asked by the campaign after its loss to Trump to help with fundraising.
The party is flooding Harris’ lucrative email donor list with near-daily appeals aimed at small-dollar donors — those whose contributions are measured in the hundreds of dollars or less. But Hemond said the postelection effort also includes individual calls to larger donors.
One person familiar with the effort and the Democratic National Committee's finances said the Harris campaign's expected shortfall is a relatively small sum compared to the breadth of the campaign, which reported having $119 million cash on hand in mid-October before the Nov. 5 election. That person was not authorized to publicly discuss the campaign's finances and spoke on condition of anonymity.
But the scramble now underscores the expense involved in a losing effort and the immediate challenges facing Democrats as they try to maintain a baseline political operation to counter the Trump administration and prepare for the 2026 midterm elections. It also calls into question how Democrats used their resources, including hosting events with musicians and other celebrities as well as running ads in a variety of nontraditional spaces such as Las Vegas' domed Sphere.
Patrick Stauffer, chief financial officer for the Harris campaign, said in a statement that “there were no outstanding debts or bills overdue” on Election Day and there “will be no debt” listed for either the campaign or the DNC on their next financial disclosures, which are due to the Federal Election Commission in December.
The person familiar with the campaign and DNC's finances said it was impossible to know just where Harris’ balance sheet stands currently. The campaign still is getting invoices from vendors for events and other services from near the end of the race. The campaign also has outstanding receipts; for example, from media organizations that must pay for their employees’ spots on Air Force Two as it traveled for the vice president’s campaign activities.
Within hours of Trump picking Florida Republican Matt Gaetz for attorney general on Wednesday, Harris' supporters got an appeal for more money for “the Harris Fight Fund,” citing the emerging Trump team and its agenda.
Gaetz, who resigned his House seat after the announcement, “will weaponize the Justice Department to protect themselves,” the email said. It said Democrats “must stop them from executing Trump’s plans for revenge and retribution” and noted that “even his Republican allies are shocked by this” Cabinet choice.
Another appeal followed Friday in Harris' name.
“The light of America's promise will burn bright as long as we keep fighting,” the email said, adding that “there are still a number of critical races across the country that are either too close to call or with the margin of recounts or certain legal challenges.”
The emails do not mention Harris' campaign or its finances.
The “Harris Fight Fund” is a postelection label for the “Harris Victory Fund,” which is the joint fundraising operation of Harris’ campaign, the DNC and state Democratic parties. Despite the language in the recent appeals, most rank-and-file donors' contributions would be routed to the national party, unless a donor took the time to contact DNC directly and have the money go directly to Harris or a state party.
The fine print at the bottom of the solicitation explains that the first $41,300 from a person and first $15,000 from a political action committee would be allocated to the DNC. The next $3,300 from a person or $5,000 from a PAC would go to the Harris for President “Recount Account.” Anything beyond that threshold, up to maximum contribution limits that can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, would be spread across state parties.
Officials at the DNC, which is set to undergo a leadership change early next year, indicated the party has no plans to cover any shortfall for Harris but could not explicitly rule out the party shifting any money to the campaign.
Cappelletti reported from Lansing, Michigan.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a concession speech for the 2024 Presidential election, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, on the campus of Howard University in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris looks at a monitor of the event from backstage, just before taking the stage for her final campaign rally, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Vice President Kamala Harris gestures as she delivers a concession speech for the 2024 presidential election, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, on the campus of Howard University in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Viktor Gyokeres is the Swedish striker whose explosive goal-scoring has made him one of the hottest properties in Europe and could see him become soccer's next $100 million-plus player.
Yet Premier League clubs seemingly missed his rare talent when it was right under their noses.
Instead, Sporting Lisbon took a chance on Gyokeres and now stands to make a fortune after plucking him from the second tier of English soccer last year.
“He is ready for something bigger,” Sweden coach Jon Dahl Tomasson told broadcaster Viaplay ahead of Gyokeres' hat trick against Manchester City in the Champions League last week. “Everybody likes a goalscorer.”
Sporting bought Gyokeres from Coventry City for around $25 million. He has gone on to score 66 goals in 68 appearances — including 23 goals in 18 this term — and helped Sporting win the Portuguese title last season.
To put the 26-year-old forward's club statistics into context, this season he is outscoring Robert Lewandowski (19 in 17 games), Harry Kane (17 in 16) and Erling Haaland (15 in 16).
Gyokeres stretches defenses with his direct runs and is deadly in front of goal with rasping shots that find the corner of the net with unerring precision.
His impressive numbers have sparked speculation he will soon be on the move again — maybe during the January transfer window — with clubs like Manchester United, City, Arsenal, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain all reportedly interested. Gyokeres' contract has a release clause of 100 million euros ($105.4 million).
Links to United and City are understandable. Gyokeres' former coach at Lisbon, Ruben Amorim, has just taken over at United. Hugo Viana, Lisbon's outgoing sporting director who signed him from Coventry, is on his way to City.
Gyokeres deflects comparisons to past Sporting greats Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Figo.
“I try not to compare myself to them. I just want to be myself and do my best every day when I go to training and when we play,” he told UEFA.
A move to one of Europe's leading teams feels inevitable. The surprise is that it has taken so long for his talent to be more widely recognized.
Dalibor Savic coached Gyokeres at youth level for Brommapojkarna, a Swedish club with a reputation for developing some of the country's best emerging players.
“He was a late developer because he was not the best striker or the best player in Brommapojkarna at age 16, 17, 18, 19. We had better players in the academy and so on,” Savic, who was head coach of the club's under 19 and U21 teams, told The Associated Press. ”He made the right pathways through his career, but only he can do that because he’s so determined and focused and hard working and stubborn.
“If he if he aims at something, he will achieve it.”
Gyokeres' first chance in England came in 2018 when he joined Brighton — a team that specializes in developing players and then selling them on for huge profit.
Not on this occasion.
“Why has Viktor Gyokeres excelled after Brighton sold him?” read a recent headline on The Argus, the city's local newspaper.
It is a fair question. Brighton turned big profits on players like Moises Caiceido, Alexis Mac Allister and Marc Cucurella.
Yet Gyokeres was loaned first to St Pauli in Germany, then Swansea and finally Coventry, where he sealed a permanent move for around $1 million in 2021.
His numbers at Brighton and during his loan spells didn't point to the heights he has gone on to achieve, with seven goals in 28 games for St Pauli his best return.
“He needs to play under a certain system... he’s a power forward, he’s a deep running striker, so he’s good on transitions,” Savic said.
Despite scoring only three goals in 19 appearances on loan for Coventry, then manager Mark Robins was convinced about his quality.
“I remember saying when we first signed him that he’s in a rush, and that was how it appeared. He was looking to try to move as high as he possibly could do as quickly as he possibly could do," Robins told the Coventry Telegraph this month.
Gyokeres went on to score 40 goals in 97 games and take Coventry to the brink of promotion to the Premier League, before it eventually lost a playoff final.
That paved the way for his move to Lisbon where his performances have been impossible to ignore.
“He made the right choice going to Portugal,” Savic said. “I don’t think it's wrong to be the king of Portugal and score like 35-40 goals per year and be able to play in the Champions League every year and win the title.”
Proving he can score consistently at an even higher level will be the next challenge if Gyokeres follows in the footsteps of other top Swedish strikers like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrik Larsson and moves to one of Europe's leading clubs.
Gyokeres has scored four goals in Sweden's four Nations League games since September. Sweden leads its group and hosts Slovakia on Saturday night.
“There’s no doubt that that Viktor is a top, top player, a top European player, but is he a world class player? I don’t know,” Savic said. “I would be happy to see him prove me wrong... make my question mark into an exclamation mark. Like, ‘yes — he’s a world class player.’"
James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Sweden's Viktor Gyokeres, right, duels for the ball with Austria's Marcel Sabitzer during the Euro 2024 group F qualifying soccer match between Austria and Sweden at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna, Austria, on June 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)
FILE - Sweden's Viktor Gyokeres scores his side's third goal by a penalty shot during the UEFA Nations League soccer match between Azerbaijan and Sweden at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo, file)
FILE - Sporting's Viktor Gyokeres celebrates after scoring during the UEFA Champions League opening phase soccer match between Sporting and Manchester City in Lisbon, Portugal, Tuesday, November 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armando Franca, file)
