It began with a group of Black women on a Zoom call who hit a million-dollar fundraising target in about three hours. This event marked the start of a series of similar Zoom sessions, aimed at different groups, to support Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign. The most recent session, held on Monday night and titled “White Dudes for Harris,” drew 190,000 participants and raised over $4 million.
High-profile celebrities and politicians were among the attendees of these virtual gatherings. Despite being only a week old, Vice President Harris’s bid for the presidency is generating a grassroots energy that was absent in President Joe Biden’s campaign. Leveraging modern video conferencing, the campaign has effectively reached and mobilized motivated voters, raising substantial funds in the process.
In the past week—roughly 100 days from Election Day—the campaign has raised $200 million and recruited over 170,000 new volunteers. Unlike the big donors who recently persuaded Biden to step aside, it is now hundreds of thousands of ordinary Democrats fueling what has been dubbed “Kamalamentum.”
Initially, the Zoom calls attracted tens of thousands of participants, a significant feat considering the usual limit for such meetings is 1,000 participants. Since then, two calls have exceeded 150,000 participants. Zoom has not responded to requests for comment on how these large-scale meetings were facilitated.
Republicans have criticized these identity-based virtual gatherings as “racist” and “desperate” pandering to liberal voters. However, the impact of these events is being taken seriously. Republican consultant and pollster Whit Ayres noted that the Zoom sessions signal enormous enthusiasm for Harris’s candidacy. He cautioned that criticizing identity-based sessions could backfire, alienating those who share the targeted identity.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his party argue that Democrats are more energized by Biden’s sudden departure from the race than by Harris herself. On July 21, just hours after Biden announced his withdrawal and endorsement of Harris, the collective “Win with Black Women” convened the first Zoom call. This four-hour session attracted 44,000 participants and raised $1.6 million for Harris, surpassing the original goal of $1 million in 100 days.
“I felt like when Obama got the nomination all over again. I actually felt more excited, to be honest,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, who joined the call. “My first response was, ‘OK, he’s out; now we’ve got to fight for this sister.'”
Kamala Harris, 59, stands to be the first Black woman and the first South Asian woman to secure a major American party’s nomination for president. The official nomination will be confirmed at the Democratic National Convention in August. Following the initial success, gatherings of South Asian women have celebrated their “auntie,” and Latinas have hailed a “hermana,” showing the broad and diverse support for Harris’s historic candidacy
