美国并不缺少大捐助者或政治筹款人，但五年前，一个相对较小的群体在美国总统选举中观察了拥挤的民主党领域，并得出了同样的结论——他们会用自己的金钱和影响力支持一位当时几乎没有得到全国认可的年轻参议员:卡玛拉·哈里斯。
一些人对那些关注竞选资金的人来说是熟悉的名字，这些媒体巨头以从大量人才中发掘有前途的人才而闻名:好莱坞巨星经纪人布莱恩·洛德，艾美奖获奖的《欢乐合唱团》制片人瑞恩·墨菲，电影制片人J.J .艾布拉姆斯，现任派拉蒙全球总裁的杰夫·谢尔，以及LinkedIn联合创始人雷德·霍夫曼。
但像大多数竞选活动一样，其他早期支持者不那么知名，也不那么有钱，但同样重要:基层活动人士激励邻居，在社交媒体上发帖，为这个女人筹集捐款，他们希望有一天能看到这个女人打破美国最高最硬的玻璃天花板。
“她并不关注别人筹到了多少钱。哈里斯2019年国家财政主席乔恩·赫内斯告诉美国广播公司新闻，她专注于“我们正在建立一个社区、一个网络和一个家庭，他们相信我的信息，并希望帮助它传播到全国其他地方，”他指出，他们在她的初选期间筹集了超过4000万美元。
他补充道，“如果你只是把它留给那些能开出大额支票的人，你将无法发起一场真正的运动。”
美国广播公司新闻采访了哈里斯2019年国家财政委员会的超过25人，该委员会负责筹集资金和激励社区支持他们的候选人。哈里斯知道他们中的一些人是她“不成功便成仁”团队的成员。
“财务委员会是如此多样化——在种族、地理和专业方面。它为这一刻奠定了基础，”Henes说。“因此，我们现在看到的这些募集资金的呼吁和集会显示了即将到来的兴奋和多样性。”
他们投资的总统竞选活动在2020年爱荷华州党团会议前两个月失败了。然而，现在它又卷土重来了——对于许多早在世界知道她的名字之前就已经见证了哈里斯崛起的支持者来说，这并不奇怪。
有先见之明的早期支持者
宾夕法尼亚州蒙哥马利县专员尼尔·马基雅(Neil Makhija)第一次见到哈里斯是在2010年，当时她正在竞选加州司法部长。“我走到她面前，告诉她，自从我听到巴拉克·奥巴马后，我就再也没有这么受鼓舞了，”他告诉ABC新闻，并补充说，他还告诉哈里斯，她有一天会成为总统。
他们被称为多重“捆绑者”——为一名候选人从多个捐助者那里收集捐款，并作为一笔大额捐款交付的人——说他们在哈里斯身上看到了同样的品质。
南加州哈里斯胜利基金PAC的地区联合主席金伯利·马图·埃默森(Kimberly Marteau Emerson)表示，她也是在2010年竞选加州司法部长时第一次遇见哈里斯。近十年后，在哈里斯于2019年发起总统竞选前不久，爱默生在一次宣传她的书的活动中看到了她。
“她像巴拉克·奥巴马一样交流。她很棒。她是一个很会讲故事的人，”埃默森说，她告诉她的丈夫约翰·b·埃默森，他也是哈里斯PAC地区联合主席和民主党全国代表大会(DNC)代表。“她说话的方式有助于我们了解她和彼此。有一种共同的人性。”
埃默森说，她和她的丈夫认识许多参加2020年竞选的候选人。但是哈里斯宣布的那天，爱默生发短信给她:“我加入。”
哈里斯的许多支持者指出了她与人沟通的能力。“我觉得她很有人情味。对各行各业的人都感兴趣，”富国银行投资银行部副主席弗雷德里克·特雷尔告诉美国广播公司新闻。“她在智力上很好奇，我们的谈话很吸引人……她会成为一名出色的总统。”
然而，一些人强调，胜利并不是他们决定投资哈里斯的唯一因素。
“我是基于价值观的支持者。吉尔·路易斯说，她是哈佛大学阿尔法·百臂巨人女生联谊会的38名姐妹之一。“我们成长在一个我们相信这个国家代表自由和平等的时代……这就是我们如此沉浸其中的原因。”
对新的民主党候选人的欢呼
美国广播公司新闻采访的许多捐助者表示，他们一直在支持她。现在，离选举日不到100天了，许多人说他们从来没有经历过这种程度的政治兴奋。
就在拜登于7月21日宣布他不再寻求连任的一个小时后，顶级捐赠者和bundler Alex Heckler出现在百老汇音乐剧“Suffs”的观众中，该剧以一个世纪前的妇女选举权运动为基础，由希拉里共同制作。赫克勒回忆道，当大幕拉开，在女主角说出第一句台词之前，意想不到的事情发生了。
”她还没来得及说一句话，就响起了令人愤慨的掌声。人们开始高呼‘卡玛拉’一分钟，”赫克勒告诉美国广播公司新闻。“我打了寒战。人群中的人都哭了。”
来自科罗拉多州的民主党全国委员会代表旺达·詹姆斯说，意识到哈里斯可能成为民主党总统候选人让她想起了前总统奥巴马的第一次竞选。
詹姆斯说:“我感觉整个2008年……你都可以听到甲壳虫乐队在唱‘太阳来了’。”我的手机响个不停，嗡嗡作响，我的手机很热。"
其他人告诉美国广播公司新闻，虽然他们最初对拜登辞职并支持哈里斯担任总统的消息感到宽慰和兴奋，但他们也面临着一个残酷的现实。
“捐助者认识到，选举一名黑人女性更加困难——在这个厌恶女性和性别歧视的世界里，这是双重打击，”长期的民主党捐助者和活动家苏西·汤普金斯·比尔(Susie Tompkins Buell)说，她也是希拉里·克林顿(Hillary Clinton)的密友，也是她的竞选捆绑人。然而，布尔也认为哈里斯是明确的选择支持。
“这太明显了。她有灵气。她很顽强。她拥有一切，”布尔宣称，但补充说，支持者“需要理解这一过程的现实…这对我们所有人来说都是未知的领域。”
哈里斯的副总裁选择
如果哈里斯获得民主党总统候选人提名，她的首要任务之一将是选择副总统竞选伙伴，这一过程已经开始。
阿海珐·马丁(Areva Martin)是加利福尼亚州的网络普通用户民主党代表，她在哈里斯大学一年级时就认识他，她说哈里斯得到了强有力的民主党领导人的支持，这让她感到安慰。
“我喜欢她选择埃里克·霍尔德来做审查，”马丁说，他指的是巴拉克·奥巴马的前司法部长。“我认为他很聪明。让霍尔德加入就是让奥巴马联盟加入进来。”
美国广播公司新闻证实，哈里斯副总统人选的两个领先者仍然是亚利桑那州参议员马克·凯利和宾夕法尼亚州州长马克·夏皮罗。几乎每一个接受ABC新闻采访的捐助者都说他们支持这两个项目。
然而，一些捐赠者有不同的想法。在2019年竞选期间，塔凯拉·汉娜在北卡罗来纳州为哈里斯举行了第一次大型筹款活动，她在州长罗伊·库珀之前说宣布7月29日，他退出了对该职位的考虑，她也将强烈支持他的工作。
“他们的共同点是，他们都是各州的(司法部长)。那是他们会说的语言……他们都来自法律，”汉娜说。
民主党捐赠人、宾夕法尼亚州第六国会选区前候选人马南·特里维迪博士(Manan Trivedi)与美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)采访的其他几个人一致表示，他希望哈里斯做出更非传统的选择，继续撼动这场比赛。他的选择是密歇根州州长格雷琴·惠特默。
“我知道这不会发生。但作为两个女儿的父亲和一个成功的妻子，我认为我们已经迟到了，”特里维迪说。“我认为格雷琴·惠特默是一股主导力量，我们需要密歇根州;不仅仅是因为她是女性。她有着很好的记录，这让这场比赛形成了鲜明的对比。”
展望未来
自从拜登总统一周前退出总统竞选以来，哈里斯竞选团队表示，迄今为止已经筹集了超过2亿美元，其中包括在拜登宣布后的24小时内收到的创纪录的8100万美元捐款。一些捐助者认为，这种热情显示了对候选人的高度支持。
阿西夫·马哈茂德(Asif Mahmood)是希拉里·克林顿(Hillary Clinton)总统竞选的副国家财务主席，也是哈里斯2019年竞选的亚洲外联财务负责人。他指出，2016年和现在之间存在“明显的差异”，这些差异对哈里斯有利，其中之一是哈里斯获得的主要推动，因为总统竞选一直关注拜登的年龄和其他明显的弱点。
“25年来，我从未见过卡玛拉现在享受的能量，”阿西夫告诉ABC新闻。“这超过了奥巴马的能量。”
2024年7月23日星期二，美国副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯在美国威斯康星州密尔沃基的一次竞选活动中。
丹尼尔·斯坦勒/彭博
阿西夫说，即便如此，竞选团队也不能自满，特别是考虑到克林顿在2016年输给特朗普的摇摆州。他预计竞选工作人员将访问这些州，以支持那里的努力。
筹款人蒂娜·德利亚也是民主党全国代表大会的康涅狄格州代表，她说，在这个时刻，重要的不仅仅是大额支票。德利亚说，在拜登退出后的24小时内，她从基层支持者那里为哈里斯筹集了可观的资金。
“我做了TikToks，脸书帖子，Threads，Instagram，并从小额捐款人那里筹集了3万英镑，”德利亚告诉ABC新闻。
全球公关电影MikeWorldWide的创始人兼首席执行官迈克尔·肯普纳(Michael Kempner)习惯于为民主党候选人筹集高额捐款，他表示，哈里斯的候选人资格正在重新引起潜在支持者的兴趣。
肯普纳说:“我已经收到了近100条短信、电子邮件和电话，这些人希望更多地参与进来，而以前他们对此并不热心。”。“兴奋的程度感觉像奥巴马。这是我40年来从未体验过的热情程度。”
Kamala Harris donors say early support made them ready to seize this moment
America has no shortage of big donors or political fundraisers, but five years ago, a relatively small group of people looked at the crowded Democratic field in U.S. presidential election and came to the same conclusion – they would use their money and influence to support a young senator with little national recognition at the time: Kamala Harris.
Some are familiar names to those who follow campaign finance, media titans with known eyes for plucking promising talent out of large pools: superstar Hollywood talent agent Bryan Lourd, Emmy-winning "Glee" producer Ryan Murphy, filmmaker J.J. Abrams, Jeff Shell – now the president of Paramount Global – and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.
But like most campaigns, other early supporters were less well known or moneyed but just as vital: grassroots activists who energized neighbors and posted on social media to drive donations for the woman they wanted to see one day shatter the highest and hardest glass ceiling in America.
"She was not focused on how much money did somebody raise. She was focused on 'we're building a community, a network, and a family that believes in my message and wants to help get it to the rest of the country,' Harris' 2019 National Finance Chair Jon Henes told ABC News, noting that they raised over 40 million dollars during her primary campaign.
He added, "If you just leave it up to people who can write a big check, you're not going to be able to build a real movement."
ABC News spoke to over 25 people from Harris' 2019 national finance committee, a group in charge of raising money and galvanizing communities to support their candidate. Some of them were known to Harris as a part of her "Ride or Die" crew.
"The finance committee was so diverse – racially, geographically, professionally. It laid the groundwork for this moment," Henes said. "So what we're seeing now with these Zoom calls to raise money and the rallies shows the excitement and diversity coming to play."
The presidential campaign they invested in then fizzled out two months before the 2020 Iowa caucus. Now, however, it has come roaring back – no surprise to many supporters who had watched Harris' ascent long before the world knew her name.
The prescient early supporters
Neil Makhija, commissioner of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, first met Harris in 2010 when she was running for California attorney general. "I walked up to her and said I had not been that inspired since I heard Barack Obama," he told ABC News, adding that he further told Harris she would be president one day.
Multiple "bundlers," as they're called – people who collect donations from multiple contributors for a candidate and deliver them as a single, large donation – said they saw the same quality in Harris.
Kimberly Marteau Emerson, the regional co-chair of the Southern California Harris Victory Fund PAC, said she also first met Harris in 2010 when she was running for California attorney general. Nearly a decade later, shortly before Harris launched her presidential campaign in 2019, Emerson watched her at an event publicizing her book.
"She communicates like Barack Obama. She is that good. She is a great storyteller," Emerson says she told her husband, John B. Emerson, also a Harris PAC regional co-chair as well as a Democratic National Convention (DNC) delegate. "She spoke in a way that helped us relate to her and each other. There was a common humanity."
Emerson said she and her husband knew many candidates who were running in 2020. But the day Harris announced, Emerson texted her: "I'm in."
Many of Harris' supporters point to her ability to connect with people. "I thought she had a great people's touch. And an interest in people in all walks of life," Wells Fargo Vice Chairman of Investment Banking Frederick Terrell told ABC News. "She was intellectually curious, our conversations were engaging … She will make a fabulous president."
Yet some people stressed that winning wasn't the only factor in their decision to invest in Harris.
"I'm a values-based supporter. I'm not a frontrunner supporter," said Jill Louis, who was one of Harris' 38 line sisters at the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Alpha Chapter at Howard University. "We came up in a time when we believed this country stood for freedom and equality … that's what we're so steeped in."
Jubilation over the new likely Democratic nominee
Many donors with whom ABC News spoke for this story said they have been playing the long game in supporting her. And now, with fewer than 100 days remaining before Election Day, many said they've never before experienced this level of excitement in politics.
Just an hour after Biden announced on July 21 that he was no longer seeking reelection, top donor and bundler Alex Heckler was in the audience of the Broadway musical "Suffs," based on the women's suffrage movement a century ago and co-produced by Hillary Clinton. As the curtain opened and before the lead actress delivered her first line, Heckler recalls, something unexpected happened.
"Before she can say a word, there was an outrageous applause. People started chanting 'Kamala' for a minute," Heckler told ABC News. "I had chills. People in the crowd were crying."
Wanda James, a DNC delegate from Colorado, said realizing that Harris would likely be the Democratic presidential nominee took her back to former President Obama's first campaign.
"I feel all 2008 … You could hear the Beatles singing 'Here Comes the Sun,' James said. "My phone was ringing and buzzing so much, my phone was hot."
Others told ABC News that while they were initially relieved and excited by the news that Biden had stepped down and endorsed Harris for the Oval Office, they are also facing a blunt reality.
"Donors recognize it's more difficult electing a Black woman – [a] double whammy in this world of misogyny and sexism," said Susie Tompkins Buell, a longtime Democratic donor and activist who's also a close friend of Hillary Clinton's, for whom she also was a campaign bundler. Yet Buell also feels Harris is the clear pick to support.
"It's so obvious. She has the aura. She's tenacious. She has it all," Buell declared, but added that supporters "need to understand the reality of this process … This is uncharted territory for all of us."
Harris' VP pick
Should Harris secure the Democratic presidential nomination, one of her first tasks will be to select a vice presidential running mate, a process that has already begun.
Areva Martin, a California at-large Democratic delegate who has known Harris since they were both college freshmen, says she's comforted by the fact that that Harris is supported by strong Democratic leaders.
"I like that she picked Eric Holder to do the vetting," Martin said, referring to Barack Obama's former attorney general. "I think he's brilliant. Bringing Holder in is bringing the Obama coalition."
ABC News has confirmed the two frontrunners for Harris' VP pick remain Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and Pennsylvania Governor Mark Shapiro. Nearly every donor with whom ABC News spoke said they supported both.
MORE: Kamala Harris expected to name running mate by Aug. 7
Yet a few donors had different ideas. Takeila Hannah, who held the first large fundraiser for Harris in North Carolina during her 2019 campaign, said prior to state Gov. Roy Cooperannouncingon July 29 that he was withdrawing from consideration for the position that she would also strongly support him for the job.
"What they have in common is they've both been [attorneys general] of states. That's a language they can speak … they both come from the law," said Hannah.
Dr. Manan Trivedi, a Democratic donor and former candidate for Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district, echoed several others with whom ABC News spoke in saying he hoped Harris would make a more unconventional pick to continue shaking up the race. His choice is Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
"I know it's not going to happen. But as a dad of two daughters and a successful wife, I think we're overdue," Trivedi said. "And I think Gretchen Whitmer is a dominant force and we need Michigan; it's not just because she's female. She has a great record and it brings the race into stark contrast."
Looking ahead
Since President Biden withdrew from the presidential race just over one week ago, the Harris campaign said it has so far raised over $200 million, including the record-shattering $81 million in donations it received in the 24 hours immediately following Biden's announcement. That enthusiasm, some donors believe, demonstrates high-level support for the candidate.
Asif Mahmood was deputy national finance chair for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, as well as the financial point person for Asian outreach for Harris' 2019 campaign. He notes that there are "stark differences" between 2016 and now that work in Harris' favor, one of which is the major boost Harris has received due to the presidential race focusing on Biden's age and other perceived weaknesses for as long as it did.
"In 25 years, I haven't seen the energy Kamala is enjoying right now," Asif told ABC News. "This is more than Obama energy."
Even so, Asif said, the campaign cannot afford to be complacent, particularly regarding the swing states that Clinton lost to Trump in 2016. He expects campaign workers to visit those states to bolster efforts there.
Fundraiser Tina Duryea, who's also a Connecticut delegate to the Democratic National Convention, said it's not just the big checks that are significant in this moment. Duryea says she raised a respectable amount of money for Harris from grassroots supporters in the 24 hours after Biden's withdrawal.
"I did TikToks, Facebook posts, Threads, Instagram, and raised 30 thousand from small-donor donations," Duryea told ABC News.
Michael Kempner, founder and CEO of the global PR film MikeWorldWide, who's accustomed to collecting high-dollar donations for Democratic candidates, said the Harris candidacy is generating renewed interest from potential supporters.
"I've received close to a 100 texts, emails and calls from people who want to be more involved who previously were not enthusiastic,” Kempner said. “The level of excitement feels Obama-esque. There's a level of enthusiasm [that] in my 40 years I have never experienced."
