Organizing group White Dudes for Harris raised more than $4 million for Vice President Kamala Harris‘ presidential campaign during their Zoom call Monday evening. The event got 190,000 people to attend, including leading Democrats, several celebrities and Jeff Bridges himself, known for portraying the Dude in The Big Lebowski.
The Minnesota governor, Tim Walz; the Illinois governor, JB Pritzker; and the US transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, who are all being considered as Harris’s running mate, were also present. The organizers said the virtual event “shattered expectations”.
“Over the course of the evening, speakers heard governors, senators, congressmen, actors and singers all speaking directly to white men around the need to organize and support Kamala Harris for president,” they said in a press release cited by The Guardian.
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“Speakers spoke truthfully and honestly about the path ahead, the importance for us to connect with one another and the important role we can play in getting other white men to turn their backs on the dangerous, dark path Donald Trump is trying to march us down.”
Organizer Ross Morales Rocketto said the gathering was inspired by Win with Black Women, which raised over $1 million for Harris’ campaign after hosting a Zoom call with over 40,000 attendees.
Indeed, while former President Barack Obama raised $150 million for his whole campaign in 2012, Harris raised a stunning $200 million in just one week. On Sunday, the Harris campaign team said that in her first week since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Harris raised over $200 million in donations.
“In the week since we got started, Kamala Harris has raised $200 million dollars. 66% of that is from new donors. We’ve signed up 170,000 new volunteers,” Harris’ deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty, stated on X.
Surely, the momentum Harris is gaining in terms of campaign donations is not going to slow down anytime soon as over 170,000 volunteers have also signed up to help her campaign with “phone banking, canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts,” Fortune.com reported on Monday.
“The momentum and energy for Vice President Harris is real — and so are the fundamentals of this race: this election will be very close and decided by a small number of voters in just a few states,” Michael Tyler, the campaign’s communications director, wrote in a memo.
With less than 100 days to the election, Harris has earned the support of leading Democratic figures including Biden, former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
She is also catching up with the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, according to the latest polls.
