Top Democratic Party officials are concerned that the Harris-Walz campaign crossed the finish line with tens of millions of dollars in debt that could now be the party’s problem.
Party officials are now scrutinizing how the campaign spent its funds, having raised over $1 billion before Election Day. FEC filings already show shocking payments to celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and tens of millions in event spending and social media influence.
“How do you raise a historic amount of money and not win a single swing state?” one Harris aide told Axios. “The honest answer is: I don’t know. It seems we lost the national narrative, and that’s what we need to diagnose.”
Reports say the Harris campaign expected a delayed result on Election Day, and officials were planning to continue fundraising as votes were counted in the following days.
HARRIS CAMPAIGN REPORTEDLY SPENT 6 FIGURES ON ‘CALL HER DADDY’ PODCAST WITH FEWER THAN 1 MILLION YOUTUBE VIEWS
The Harris campaign raised over $1 billion, but Democratic officials are concerned it ended the race in massive debt. (Megan Mendoza/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
That reality never materialized, however, as it quickly became apparent that President-elect Trump ran away with the victory.
FEC filings show the Harris campaign made two $500,000 payments to Oprah Winfrey’s production company, Harpo, on Oct. 15, a month after Winfrey appeared with Harris at a town hall event and weeks before Oprah was on stage with Harris at a Philadelphia rally before Election Day.
HARRIS CAMPAIGN AND ALLIES SPENT MORE THAN $1.4B ON POLITICAL ADS IN LOSING RACE AGAINST TRUMP
While Winfrey herself denied accepting any payment, Harpo claimed the payments were meant to cover production costs for the surrounding event.
Oprah Winfrey’s production company, Harpo, accepted two $500,000 payments from the Harris campaign. (Getty Images)
The campaign also gave $4 million to Village Marketing Agency, a company that connects clients with social media influencers.
The long list of celebrities that joined Harris on the campaign trail included Beyoncé, Bon Jovi, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Bruce Springsteen.
The Washington Examiner also reported that the Harris campaign spent over $12 million on digital media consultants and “spent six figures on building a set for Harris’s appearance on the popular Call Her Daddy podcast with host Alex Cooper.”
The Harris campaign spent tens of millions on concert-like rallies and huge television ads. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The campaign spent at least $15 million on “event production,” FEC records show, with many payments lining up with high profile events and concerts with celebrity attendees or performers.
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“The truth is this is just an epic disaster, this is a $1 billion disaster,” Lindy Li, Harris surrogate and DNC National Finance Committee member, told “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Saturday.
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
