Kamala Harris’s Fund-Raising Machine Cranks Into High Gear

The high-dollar fund-raising world is whirring to life for Vice President Kamala Harris after weeks in which Democratic donors were dejected, demoralized and utterly battered.

Since the announcement of her presidential campaign, Ms. Harris has not only raked in $130 million primarily from small donors, but also gathered big check after big check from billionaires and millionaires as they stockpile money into the newly renamed Harris Victory Fund. Her fund-raisers, armed with a new Harris logo, went to work.

Major fund-raisers — one of whom told President Biden’s campaign just days ago that he thought the campaign could count on only about 25 percent of its allied donors to support Mr. Biden — are now swamped with a flood of interest from donors.

Ms. Harris has no time to waste, having taken over the top of the Democratic ticket with just over 100 days to go and without the years of lead time that Mr. Biden had to cultivate major donors, soothe them and coax them to hand over their money.

Harris campaign officials spent Tuesday and Wednesday energizing their supporters from Beverly Hills to the Hamptons.

On Wednesday, about 40 high-powered finance and Big Law executives joined a Zoom call organized by the superlawyer Brad Karp, the former New York City mayoral candidate Ray McGuire and a few others to discuss how Wall Street could best support a Harris ticket. Speakers included Rufus Gifford, the campaign’s finance chair, and donors inquired about Ms. Harris’s position on Israel, her posture on the economy and her selection of a running mate, according to two people on the call.