New Files Show Elon Musk Is Giving Big Check to House Republicans

(CNN) –Kamala Harris entered September — and the final weeks of the presidential campaign — with far more money than Donald Trump, new federal data shows, after breaking the fundraising record during her first full month as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Fundraising by Democratic national committees focused on the battle for Congress has also soared: The party’s arm working to turn the U.S. House of Representatives into a blue chamber raised more than double what its Republican counterpart did in August. Still, the House GOP campaign arm announced a six-figure donation from billionaire Elon Musk last month as the party struggles to defend its slim majority in the chamber.

As Democrats ride a wave of donor enthusiasm, the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission also show that some major outside groups have increased their activity, while a pro-Trump super PAC has unleashed a massive wave of independent spending to help Republicans close the gap.

Harris has all but erased the financial advantage Trump temporarily gained over the summer, when the former president raised more than President Joe Biden in two of the last three months before Biden dropped out of the race in late July. The vice president has paid nearly $190 million directly to her campaign in August, more than four times the $44.5 million the Trump campaign says entered its main account that month.

Harris’s campaign also spent far more than Trump’s in August, about $174 million. Most of that was spent on advertising, $135 million, as it rushed to introduce voters to the new Democratic nominee on a shortened schedule. About $6.4 million went to payroll expenses and $4.5 million went to text messages.

By comparison, the Trump campaign spent just $61 million last month, the bulk of which (more than $47 million) went to media buys.

Despite the spending spree, Harris’s campaign’s main account entered September with $235 million in cash, far exceeding the $135 million remaining in Trump’s coffers, according to the company’s most recent records.

The data, released late Friday night, offers only a snapshot of the candidates’ financial strength.

The Trump and Harris campaigns are aligned with a series of committees that file disclosure reports on a separate schedule. Harris’s broader network reported that it raised a combined $361 million in August, nearly three times the $130 million the Trump operation said it brought in.

Harris’s fundraising dominance has helped give Democrats a big advantage in ad bookings this fall, including in key battleground states. The vice president and her allies are eclipsing the former president’s social media presence. Democrats have spent $137 million on digital platforms since Harris became the party’s standard-bearer in late July, more than three times what Republicans have spent, according to a CNN analysis of data compiled by ad tracking firm AdImpact.

Campaign reports on Friday show that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — the party’s arm dedicated to House races — has vastly outraised its Republican counterpart, the National Republican Campaign Committee, by $22.3 million to $9.7 million.

The DCCC also entered September with more money, $87.3 million versus the NRCC’s $70.8 million, money that could prove crucial in a highly competitive House battle, where Republicans are defending a slim majority.

One prominent donor who wants to help Republicans stem the Democratic tide: billionaire Elon Musk, who reportedly gave $289,100 to the GOP campaign in August, the largest federal donation Musk has disclosed so far this cycle, as he ramps up his donations to Republicans.

The tech mogul, the world’s richest person, endorsed Trump in July. In another sign of his growing political clout, a political action committee that Musk recently helped form has ramped up its campaign activity, spending more than $40 million since mid-August. That includes more than $22 million in campaigning efforts on Trump’s behalf, helping to play a crucial role. The Trump campaign, as CNN previously reported, has opted to outsource much of its campaign operations to outside organizations.

Party committees focused on Senate races raised similar amounts last month.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised $19.1 million and its Democratic counterpart raised $19.2 million. Each spent more than they raised: the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spent $31.6 million and the NRSC spent $26.5 million.

Democrats control the chamber by a narrow margin but face an unfavorable outlook this year as they defend several seats in states that previously supported Trump.

Harris’s fundraising prowess has put pressure on a network of outside groups backing the former president to help fill the financial gap.

MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC, spent more than $88 million in August alone on independent spending on behalf of the former president’s campaign, funding a campaign of television ads, according to its monthly filing. That’s more than MAGA Inc. has spent in any month this year and nearly double what it spent in July.

The super PAC received a total of $25 million last month from a group of wealthy backers, including $10 million from Wisconsin billionaire Diane Hendricks and $5 million from billionaire financier Paul Singer. It ended August with $59.4 million in cash.

On the Democratic side, FF PAC, a leading pro-Harris super PAC, reported raising nearly $37 million last month, $30 million of which came from Facebook co-founder and billionaire investor Dustin Moskovitz, his largest federal donation ever to a Democratic party in an election cycle. The super PAC spent more than $77 million in August, including nearly $62 million in independent spending for the vice presidential campaign.