Elon Musk hands House Republicans a big check, new filings show

() –Kamala Harris entered September — and the final weeks of the presidential campaign — with significantly more cash on hand than Donald Trump, new federal data shows, after setting a fundraising record during her first full month as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Fundraising by national Democratic committees focused on the battle for Congress also soared: The arm of the party working to turn the U.S. House of Representatives blue raised more than twice as much as its Republican counterpart in August. The GOP’s House campaign arm, however, reported a six-figure donation from billionaire Elon Musk last month as the party tries to defend its slim majority in the chamber.

And with Democrats riding a wave of donor enthusiasm, the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission also showed some key outside groups stepping up their activity, while a pro-Trump super PAC unleashed a massive wave of independent spending to help Republicans close the gap.

Harris completely erased the financial advantage Trump momentarily gained over the summer, when the former president outraised President Joe Biden in two of the final three months before Biden dropped out of the race in late July. The vice president pumped nearly $190 million directly into her campaign in August — more than quadruple the $44.5 million the Trump campaign says hit its main account that month.

Harris’s campaign also spent significantly more than Trump’s in August, spending about $174 million. It spent the bulk of that on advertising, $135 million, as it raced to introduce voters to the new Democratic nominee on an abbreviated timetable. About $6.4 million went to payroll expenses and $4.5 million on text messages.

By comparison, the Trump campaign spent just $61 million last month, the bulk of which (more than $47 million) went on media buys.

Despite the spending spree, Harris’s main campaign account entered September with $235 million in cash on hand, far outstripping the $135 million remaining in Trump’s coffers, the latest FEC filings show.

The data released late Friday night offer only a snapshot of the candidates’ financial strengths.

The Trump and Harris campaigns are aligned with a series of committees that file disclosure reports on a separate schedule. Harris’s broader network announced it had raised a combined $361 million in August, nearly triple the $130 million Trump’s operation said it had brought in.

Harris’ fundraising dominance helped give Democrats a significant edge in ad bookings this fall, including in key battleground states. And the vice president and her allies are overwhelming the former president’s social media presence. Democrats have spent $137 million on digital platforms since Harris became the party’s standard-bearer in late July, more than three times as much as Republicans, a analysis of data collected by the ad-tracking firm AdImpact shows.

Campaign reports on Friday show the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — the party’s arm dedicated to House elections — significantly outraised its Republican counterpart, the National Republican Campaign Committee, by $22.3 million to $9.7 million.

The DCCC also entered September with more cash on hand, $87.3 million to the NRCC’s $70.8 million, funds that could be critical in a highly competitive battle for the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a narrow majority.

One notable donor looking to help Republicans stem the Democratic tide: billionaire Elon Musk, who is reported to have donated $289,100 to the House GOP campaign in August — the largest federal donation disclosed by Musk so far this cycle — as he ramps up his giving to Republicans.

The tech mogul, the world’s richest person, endorsed Trump in July. And in another sign of his growing political clout, a super PAC Musk helped form recently ramped up its activity in the presidential race, spending more than $40 million since mid-August. That includes more than $22 million on canvassing efforts on Trump’s behalf, helping fill a critical role. Trump’s campaign, as has previously reported, has opted to outsource much of its campaign operations to outside organizations.

Party committees focused on Senate races raised comparable amounts last month.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised $19.1 million and its Democratic counterpart raised $19.2 million. Each spent more than it raised: the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spent $31.6 million and the NRSC spent $26.5 million.

Democrats narrowly control the chamber but face an unfavorable outlook this year as they defend several seats in states that have previously backed Trump.

Harris’ fundraising prowess has put pressure on a network of outside groups supporting the former president to help fill the funding gap.

MAGA Inc., one of the leading pro-Trump super PACs, spent more than $88 million in August alone on independent expenditures on behalf of the former president’s campaign, funding a blitz of television advertising, according to its monthly filing. That’s more than MAGA Inc. has spent in any month this year and about double what it spent in July.

The super PAC received a total of $25 million last month from a host of wealthy supporters, including $10 million from Wisconsin billionaire Diane Hendricks and $5 million from billionaire financier Paul Singer. It ended August with $59.4 million in cash.

On the Democratic side, FF PAC, one of the leading pro-Harris super PACs, reported raising nearly $37 million last month, with $30 million of that coming from Facebook co-founder and billionaire investor Dustin Moskovitz — by far its largest federal donation of the election cycle. The super PAC spent more than $77 million in August, including nearly $62 million in independent expenditures benefiting the vice president’s campaign.