Despite outraising President-Elect Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris still found her campaign experiencing plenty of campaign debt, as Leah covered earlier this week. A new report from the Washington Examiner is revealing some possible insight, given that Harris' spending priorities, like her priorities in other areas, don't seem to have been in the right place.
That report from Gabe Kaminsky and screenshots of it have been circulating over X, especially when it comes to the amount of money blown on a set for the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, based on sexual discussions and, of course, Harris' favorite topic of abortion.
I seriously don't get this. I see this set and can comfortably estimate it would take one trip to Home Depot. https://t.co/0UyxeFQJ9z
— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) November 8, 2024
That set decor is like $189.50 at TJMaxx. https://t.co/wMya2XlK8x
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) November 8, 2024
As one part of the report mentioned:
A source familiar with the matter told the Washington Examiner that the Harris campaign spent six figures on building a set for Harris’s appearance on the popular Call Her Daddy podcast with host Alex Cooper. The interview came out in October and was reportedly filmed in a hotel room in Washington, D.C.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Harris campaign on the podcast-related matter but did not hear back in time for publication.
This looks to have been a pattern of a catastrophic use of funds overall, as Kaminsky also detailed:
The Harris campaign and its affiliated committees dropped more than $654 million on advertising from July 22 to Election Day, whereas Trump spent $378 million, or 57% less, in the same category, according to data from AdImpact.
Future Forward, the $500 million “ad-testing factory” and super PAC that supported Harris, was a reliable clearinghouse for checks from wealthy Democrats such as Reid Hoffman, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, and Dustin Moskovitz. And anonymous donations, or so-called “dark money,” also benefited Harris at a faster and more substantial clip than Trump thanks to lax federal laws that progressives often criticize but, nonetheless, exploited in 2024.
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In mid-October, the Harris campaign disclosed that it had spent over $880 million this election, almost $526 million greater than the roughly $354 million that the Trump campaign had disclosed spending, according to a Washington Examiner analysis of federal filings. Much of the Harris campaign’s spending was allocated for digital media advertising, polling, and travel from state to state, including to a private jet company called Advanced Aviation.
Payroll and the taxes that accompanied it accounted for $56.6 million of the Harris campaign’s spending. In comparison, the Trump campaign reported spending $9 million on payroll — employing hundreds fewer staff members.
There was also the army of political, digital, and media consultants who were paid over $12.8 million by the Harris campaign, filings show.
One vendor, Village Marketing Agency, received over $3.9 million and reportedly worked to recruit thousands of social media influencers to boost Harris online. Others that scored lucrative consulting gigs from the campaign included the likes of Precision Strategies, a Democratic-aligned marketing agency; Ethos Organizing, founded by former Ohio Democratic Party director Malik Hubbard; and the Biden-allied SKDK communications firm.
Harris’s payments to the consultant class will likely come under the microscope in the months ahead, as Democrats look to diagnose who is responsible for why the party lost this election so handily...
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“Event production” was also a staple spending area of the Harris campaign, which notably hosted a star-studded lineup of musicians from Lady Gaga to Katy Perry for an election eve rally.
The campaign paid more than $15 million, according to federal filings, to companies for such services.
When it comes to making do with "hundreds fewer staff members," Trump allies and Harris critics have had plenty of fun revealing their tactics over X now that the election is over.
While the Harris team staffers of particularly deceitful accounts such as KamalaHQ congratulate one another, those behind the Trump War Room and KamalaHQ Lives have revealed that they did it with far fewer staffers and with far less money to burn through.
Kamala HQ, a team of 12, got owned by three people running @KamalaHQLies for free.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 8, 2024
Myself, @Noah_Griffith_ and @RedsRepair95 decided to start the account to combat the firehose of misinformation coming from these clowns.
Enjoy the L. https://t.co/pNMzv0kYwQ pic.twitter.com/hYub00fuKP
They had a whole army making those dumb brat memes on TikTok and the two of us destroyed them hahaha
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 8, 2024
Kamala’s campaign had over 100 staffers and thousands of dollars behind Kamala HQ.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 6, 2024
On Team Trump, it was four shitposters fueled by a lot of black coffee and Zyn.
It was the honor of my life to run the @TrumpWarRoom and @TeamTrump with these lads. pic.twitter.com/eKKT80d6nJ
It can't be emphasized enough how Harris' priorities for which media hits to do as part of some kind of a blitz were totally and completely warped. She mostly hid from the press, and then when her allies in the media pointed this out, her campaign tried to trot her out there. Even with friendly interviewers, Harris either stuck to the same old talking points, or she was a total trainwreck.
As we covered earlier, Andrew Yang and Van Jones pointed out on CNN how Harris' decision to skip out on "The Joe Rogan Experience," the most popular podcast in the world, was a total mistake. Trump managed to do so last month, as did his running mate, Vice President-Elect JD Vance, not long after. Despite how Rogan offered to have Harris come on the program, and his support for leftists, as Trump himself acknowledged when reacting to Rogan's endorsement from Monday in real time, the Democratic nominee ultimately wouldn't do so, as she wouldn't meet Rogan's terms.
Well, this is where Harris' misplaced priorities got her. As users over X pointed out, thank goodness she hasn't been handed more authority to mishandle the American taxpayer's money.
Imagine what she would have done with America’s checkbook with 4 years as POTUS 😳
— Amy Jayne Hawkins (@amyjaynehawkins) November 8, 2024
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