Joe Biden raises $26 million in a day after picking Kamala Harris as running mate

Joe Biden raised $26 million for his presidential campaign in the 24 hours after he named Kamala Harris as his running mate, reported PTI. The collection was nearly double of his previous one-day record, signalling enthusiasm among Democrats over the selection of the first African-American woman on a major party’s presidential ticket.

“Yesterday we had our best grassroots funds raising day of the campaign, more than double our previous record. And in doing so, we set a single day record for online political fundraising, and I think I know why,” Democratic party presidential nominee Biden said during his first public address with Harris.

“This morning, all across the nation little girls woke up, especially the black and brown girls who so often feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities, but today just maybe they’re seeing themselves for the first time in a new way, as the stuff of a president and vice presidents,” Biden said.

The Biden campaign though hopes to increase their haul significantly ahead of the November 3 US presidential elections. Biden will be up against President Donald Trump. Trump and the Republicans have already amassed a massive stockpile of $300 million, according to an Associated Press report.

The 55-year-old Harris is expected to play a key role in mobilising funds and building a new voter base for Biden. The California senator, who is two decades Biden’s junior, is expected to appeal to women and younger voters, especially those in the suburbs who are looking for an alternative to Donald Trump.

In her campaign and the primary, according to Biden, Harris often talked about what she referred to as the 3 am agenda, about moms and dads awake late at night in their kitchens, worried, scared, uncertain about how they were going to take care of their families, about how they’re going to pay the bills, about how they were going to make it, simply make it.

“Growing up in Scranton and Claymont, Delaware, I saw that struggle with my family as well. Kamala saw it with hers as well. And millions of Americans are living that struggle as we speak, especially in this moment of crisis, especially with so many jobs lost,” he said.

As the child of immigrants, Biden said, Harris knows personally how immigrant families enrich the country, as well as the challenges of what it means to grow up black and Indian American in the United States of America.

“Her story is America’s story, different from mine in many particulars, but also not so different in the essentials. She has worked hard. She’s never backed down from a challenge, and she has earned each and every of the accolades and achievements that she has gained, many of them often in the face of obstacles that others put in her way, but never quit,” he said.