Harris was expected to have fundraising trouble. Here’s why big donors are actually lining up in droves.

Major Democratic donors are already flocking to Kamala Harris, and they say the main reason is straightforward: She’s not Joe Biden.

Her presidential campaign raised more than $200 million in its first week, and the Democratic super PAC Future Forward said it had received $150 million in commitments after Biden bowed out. The wave of big-dollar donors, which is defying predictions that the vice president would not be able to appeal to the party’s fundraising class , has been particularly noticeable because of some donors’ previous aversion to giving to a president they saw as a doomed candidate.

Donors told POLITICO that with Harris assuming Biden’s spot at the top of the ticket, they are now more willing to support a Democratic presidential candidate again. Some were also motivated by their desire to beat GOP nominee Donald Trump.

“I’ve talked to more people who have been just in a general sense more reserved about President Biden, who are now very enthusiastic,” said Mozelle Thompson, a former Federal Trade Commission commissioner and Democratic donor. “The enthusiasm gap, the excitement gap, has been erased.”

It’s still early days, but so far the stream of money has been so strong that one donor adviser has even cautioned some donors to slow down until the dynamics of the race make it clearer where money is most needed.

Venture capitalist Bradley Tusk had decided not to donate significantly to Biden’s reelection campaign — but with Harris as the Democratic candidate, he said, he planned to give at least $100,000 to back her. With Biden at the top of the ticket, he reasoned, the funding would not have paid off, but Harris’ chances were markedly better than Biden’s. And unlike the president, Harris wasn’t “falling asleep” or giving “crazy answers.”

“I understand why people might grumble, and she might not be their first choice,” Tusk said. “But in reality, it comes down to this, which is: Do you want Trump back or not? And if the answer is no, there’s now a candidate that is viable.”

Harris’ 2020 bid for the White House ended two months before the first Democratic caucus or primary. At the time, her campaign’s financial resources had been dwindling , and the then-senator from California explained that her campaign didn’t “have the financial resources we need to continue.”

“As the campaign has gone on, it’s become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete,” Harris said when she announced she was dropping out.

Even after she assumed the vice presidency, donors remained skeptical of Harris . Some discussed replacing her, with one unlikely suggestion that Biden should nominate Harris to the Supreme Court so that she had an off-ramp from the 2024 ticket.

But in the beginning stages of the current race, her team appears to have elevated her standing with the party’s funders, scheduling opportunities to schmooze with donors at events. One Democratic donor, a longtime Harris supporter, emphasized that she had “materially enhanced her brand in a short period of time.” The person, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations among the donor class, said that even those who had initially wanted an open convention had quickly come around to Harris’ candidacy.

Still, there were some donors who did not think she could win, the person said, adding that it was a small group.

The tension between Harris and the donor class highlights how much of the party’s fundraisers are, like the ticket’s former principal, older white men. Among those who cast doubt on Harris’ fundraising abilities, "The skepticism was universally from white men,” said donor adviser Alexandra Acker-Lyons.

And while Harris’ identity as a Black and South Asian woman may have at one time caused doubts among that traditional donor base, her candidacy also brings in money from new corners of the party. Among South Asian donors, enthusiasm for Harris' rise to the top of the ticket has been "off the charts," said Raj Goyle, a former Kansas state representative who bundled for Barack Obama's 2012 campaign and co-founded Indian American Impact, a voter mobilization nonprofit.

“I think people have tried for years to use her biracial identity and her multi-ethnic background as a criticism, whereas I think many of us view it as a strength," Goyle said.

Acker-Lyons argued that Harris’ earlier financial struggles were a product of the competitive 2020 primary. During that cycle, the party’s money was spread out among Democratic candidates, and Harris had not yet been introduced to a national audience, Acker-Lyons said. But now, for example, following endorsements from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi , their networks of donors are now part of Harris’ network, she said.

Acker-Lyons said she has gotten calls from people who had not given in a significant way since 2020 or 2022, asking, “Where do I give?” Those donors are primarily giving five or six figures, she said. “They’re excited again, right? They have hope and optimism that we can win again.”

Acker-Lyons has even advised donors to pause their giving until Harris announces a vice presidential candidate and new polling results emerge. At that point, she said, priorities for investment will be clearer.

Biden had struggled to raise money toward the end of his campaign and entirely lost what had been a significant fundraising advantage over Trump’s operation. As of the end of June, the Democratic operation, including Biden’s campaign, joint fundraising committees and the Democratic National Committee, had a total of $237 million cash on hand, compared to $281 million across Trump’s operation.

After the debate, the mounting calls for Biden to step aside, including from Democratic donors like Netflix executive chair Reed Hastings and actor George Clooney, only added to the chaos among Democratic Party officials and operatives.

But Biden’s withdrawal and Harris’ ascendancy offered a new sense of optimism among donors who had lost hope in the Democratic ticket. One donor, who requested anonymity to describe uncomfortable dynamics within the Democratic Party, had said they simply could not give to Biden again after the debate.

“When the debate happened, and it looked like, this was just a catastrophe, we were not going to be re-upping,” the donor said of their decision with their partner not to give to the Biden campaign again. “And so now with Kamala Harris as the presumptive nominee, we’re definitely going to give more and support more."

Not all the party’s biggest donors are getting behind Harris. Donor and lawyer John Morgan, who has repeatedly voiced his distaste for the vice president, said he would not bundle for her or give more money to the campaign. Morgan said he had consistently bundled for Democratic tickets since former President Bill Clinton’s 1996 campaign.

Biotech venture capitalist Neil Exter conceded that Harris probably would not have been his first choice to lead the ticket. Nobody knows “whether she will be a good candidate for the next 100 days or not,” he said. Still, if need be, he would give money to support the ticket because at this point, he said, Democrats do not have a choice.

“I wouldn’t be giving her money because of who she is — it’s rather, I’m giving money because I really don’t want Trump to be president,” he said.