On July 21, President Joe Biden announced he would drop out of the 2024 presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to become the new presidential nominee for the Democrats.
Although she has not yet secured the Democratic Party’s nomination, many top Democrats have already backed Harris. People online are claiming that earlier in her career she also received support from a very unlikely donor, Donald Trump.
A viral post to X claims that former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee for president, donated to Kamala Harris when she was running for reelection as California’s attorney general. The post includes a picture of a 2011 check Trump apparently wrote to Harris’ reelection campaign for the 2014 election.
THE QUESTION
Did Donald Trump donate to Kamala Harris’ campaign for California attorney general?
THE SOURCES
- OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks the flow of money in American politics
- California Secretary of State records
- Ballotpedia, a digital encyclopedia of American politics
THE ANSWER
Yes, Donald Trump donated to Kamala Harris’ reelection campaign for California attorney general.
WHAT WE FOUND
Vice President Kamala Harris was elected California’s attorney general in 2010 and ran for reelection in 2014. Former President Donald Trump donated twice to Harris’ campaign between 2010 and 2014.
Trump donated $5,000 to Harris in 2011 and another $1,000 to Harris in 2013, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks the flow of money in American politics. The image of the 2011 check that is being shared online appears to come from a 2019 Fox News article reporting on Trump’s donation history to Harris.
A Harris campaign spokesperson told the Sacramento Bee in 2020 that Harris donated that $6,000 to a nonprofit that advocates for civil and human rights for Central Americans in 2015.
Trump’s donations to Harris were among dozens he made during the 2012 and 2014 election cycles, most of which went to Republican candidates such as Mitt Romney or PACs such as the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Harris was one of a few Democrats Trump donated to at that time, with another being former New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whom Trump gave $1,000 to.
None of Trump's donations went to Harris’ opponents in the California attorney general race.
Prior to running for president as a Republican, Trump had a history of donations to both parties. OpenSecrets lists 680 separate donations made by Trump dating back to 1989, including a 2012 donation to the Republican Congressional Leadership Fund, a 2008 donation to the New York Democratic Party, a 2013 donation to Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott and a 2009 donation to former Virginia Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe.
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