How much more money (than you) does Kamala Harris have?

The senator is one of the richest presidential contenders campaigning for low-income Americans

Kamala Harris, like several of her rivals, is a wealthy presidential candidate campaigning on helping low-income Americans.

Ny Magee

Jul 6, 2019

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 17: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) addresses the Moral Action Congress of the Poor People's Campaign June 17, 2019 at Trinity Washington University in Washington, DC. The Campaign held the event to focus on issues like “voting rights, health care, housing, equitable education, indigenous sovereignty, living wage jobs and the right to join a union, clean air and water, and an end to gun proliferation and war mongering and other issues in our moral agenda.” (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Sen. Kamala Harris of California is proving to be ruthless in her pursuit of the oval office.

As TheGrio previously reported, the congresswoman was quick to shade 2020 presidential hopeful Joe Biden on issues of race and school bussing during the Democratic debate last week, and now she’s leading the pack when it comes to reaping big money.

Sen. Harris raised nearly $12 million in the last three months, according to her campaign, the Los Angeles Times reports. Her fundraising for the second quarter came from nearly 300,000 donors, and a significant portion of donations came in the 24 hours following the Democratic National Committee’s first televised debate on June 27 — during which Harris confronted the former Vice President about his past positions on public school busing.

During the debate, Harris discussed her own experience with being bused in the 1970s as an elementary school student growing up in Berkeley, Calif. Her campaign later confirmed it raised nearly half a million from sales of T-shirts showing the image of the senator as a little girl and the words “That little girl was me,” referring to comments she made to Biden about her busing experience as a child.

Harris, like several of her rivals, is a wealthy presidential candidate campaigning on helping low-income Americans.

“Working families need support and need to be lifted up. And frankly, this economy is not working for working people,” Harris said at the first 2020 Democratic primary debate last week.

She has proposed tax credits for the working class, a pay raise for teachers, universal health care, and vows to repeal the 2017 Republican tax bill because it “benefits the top 1%” of earners and “the biggest corporations in America.”

As one of the richest contenders in the 2020 presidential race, Harris’ campaign spokesman Ian Sams said the senator is “committed to lifting up average Americans.”

“She is motivated by the thought of people up at 3:00 in the morning trying to make it all work. Her agenda is meant to address their needs and improve their lives,” Sams said.

Biden, has reportedly made millions since leaving office in 2017, but has not yet released his tax returns, according to CNBC. Meanwhile, Harris and her spouse, lawyer Douglas Emhoff, reported about $1.9 million in adjusted gross income for last year, according to returns released earlier this year.

So just how did Sen. Harris became one of the most ballerific candidates in the 2020 presidential race?

Noting that she hasn’t always been rich, here’s how cnbc.com breaks down her financials:

As a district attorney for San Francisco, Harris typically earned between $125,000 and $225,000, the report states.
Her household income skyrocketed in 2014 when she married Emhoff. They filed joint taxes and reported about $1.2 million in adjusted gross income that year.
Harris has also raked in $157,000 from her job in Congress last year.
Her biggest bag came with the reported $320,000 she netted from her memoir, “The Truths We Hold,” which was released in January.

Meanwhile, Harris surged in polling after the debate.