Kamala Harris takes lead over Trump in betting odds for the first time

A major betting platform shows Kamala Harris in the lead over Donald Trump for the first time since the vice president announced she’d thrown her hat in the 2024 presidential race.

Bets placed for Harris becoming the next US president first overtook Trump bets Wednesday afternoon on the platform PredictIt.

The current price of a Harris bet via the platform is 54 cents, while a bet for Trump costs 50 cents, as of Thursday morning.

For context, a high betting price means that the candidate has better odds, and a low price means their odds are less likely.

On other betting platforms, such as Polymarket, Trump still holds a substantial lead in odds over Harris (54 percent to 44 percent at time of writing), though the lead is fluctuating and diminishing.

Though the odds are still incredibly tight, it’s a promising sign for Democrats, as it is the first time that betting odds have favoured either Democratic candidate (Harris or Biden) over Trump since May.

The favorable Harris odds mark the first time that the VP has ever led the betting race for who will become the next US president.

PredictIt data shows that 31,375 bets were made Thursday alone for a Harris presidency, at the time of publication, compared to 25,985 for a Trump presidency.

Trump’s recent peak bet price reached 69 cents on July 15 via PredictIt, and is now down to 50 cents.

When Harris was running as Joe Biden’s VP for a second term, her odds remained low at 3 to 4 cents per bet.

However, PredictIt data shows a spike in bets for a Harris presidency after the Biden-Trump debate on June 27, with 154,000 bets placed, when alarm bells began to sound among the Democrats.

There was also an increase in Harris’ betting odds around the July 4th period, when