Zoom giant calls for strong fundraising

It all started when a group of black women joined a Zoom call and reached their fundraising goal of $1 million in just about three hours.

A series of similar Zoom meetings followed, targeting other groups on behalf of Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

The latest event on Monday night was a three-hour appeal called “White Dudes for Harris”, which organisers said attracted 190,000 people and raised more than $4m (£3.1m).

Among those present were celebrities and politicians.

The race for the top job of vice president of the United States is just over a week old. But it is tapping into grassroots energy that President Joe Biden lacks, with supporters using modern video conferencing to reach motivated voters and fundraising online.

In the past week – around 100 days before Election Day – the campaign has raised $200m (£155m) and recruited more than 170,000 new volunteers.

And unlike the big donors who helped convince Mr Biden to resign and end his campaign just days ago, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Democrats are now creating the “Kamalamentum”.

The call started out in the tens of thousands — a feat considering Zoom meetings are typically limited to 1,000 participants. But two calls have since attracted more than 150,000 people. Zoom did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Republicans have criticized some identity-based online meetings as “racist” and “desperate” to pander to liberal voters.

But while some may shudder at such public use of anonymity to campaign, the impact of these virtual events is being taken seriously.

Republican pollster and consultant Whit Ayres said the Zoom sessions were “a sign of the tremendous enthusiasm for her candidacy.”

And, he said, it would be a mistake for Republicans to criticize the sessions based on identity.

“It’s counterproductive when you start attacking people because of their identity. Because everyone else who has the same identity feels like you’re attacking them.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Harris’s opponent, Donald Trump, and his party said the Democratic Party was energized more by Mr. Biden’s surprise withdrawal than by Ms. Harris herself.

On July 21, just hours after the president announced he would withdraw and endorse his vice president, Win with Black Women — a group of black female political organizers — convened its first Zoom call.

The four-hour conversation attracted 44,000 participants and raised $1.6 million for Harris, with an initial goal of $1 million in 100 days.

“I feel like Obama got the nomination again. Actually, I feel more excited, honestly,” LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, who was on the call, told The 19th News.

“My first reaction was, ‘Okay, he’s out; now we have to fight for this sister.'”

Ms Harris, 59, would be the first black woman – and the first South Asian woman – to win a major US party’s presidential nomination. The formal nomination will take place at the Democratic National Convention in August.

Then there were gatherings of South Asian women, honoring their “aunts,” and Latina women hailed a “hermana.”

On July 22, the day after Mr. Biden’s announcement, more than 53,000 black men met on Zoom and raised $1.3 million in about six hours.

Another major video conference taking place on Thursday, “White Women: Answering the Call,” repeatedly crashed as more than 160,000 people joined — the largest call in Zoom history, according to organizers.

Shannon Watts, a prominent gun control advocate and lead organizer of the call, wrote on Twitter/X that the group had raised $11 million for Harris.

“White women are the largest voting bloc in this country. We make up 40% of the electorate and so we are divided by religion, by marital status and by education,” Ms Watts told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

“Even a small change in our voting patterns can swing the entire election, and that’s the conversation we need to have on this call.”

By Monday night, “White Dudes for Harris” appeared to have broken the Zoom record set by their female counterparts.

Supporters were told, sometimes in profanity, not to let Trump’s campaign represent “all white men.”

“I’m white, I’m a guy, and I support Harris — a woman president, which is awesome,” actor Jeff Bridges, who played The Dude in the 1998 hit film The Big Lebowski, told the group.

Others giving speeches included actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mark Ruffalo, Mark Hamill and Sean Astin, as well as Ms Harris’ four vice presidential candidates — Gary Peters, JB Pritzker, Pete Buttigieg and Tim Walz.

Mr Ayres argued that the Trump campaign should be concerned about whether Ms Harris can build on this momentum and avoid spontaneous missteps at public events.

The Zoom sessions appear to be a useful way for her message to reach voters in an informal setting while also addressing key points of her campaign. This is in stark contrast to her 2019 campaign, when she was “incoherent” and “talking nonsense” when challenged on key issues, he said.

“If she runs her campaign like she did the last time she ran for president, her campaign will collapse and Donald Trump will easily march into the White House,” Mr Ayres added.

“On the other hand, if she learns how to be a competent national candidate under enormous pressure, she will really give him a run for his money.”

The enthusiasm for Harris’ candidacy is a far cry from early July, when wealthy Democratic donors, including Abigail Disney and George Clooney, publicly and privately voiced concerns about Mr. Biden’s uncertain reelection bid.

On Saturday, at the sprawling retirement community The Villages in Florida, residents in 500 golf carts rallied in support of Ms. Harris — a remarkable event in a predominantly white and notoriously conservative stronghold.

Polls conducted over the past week have shown Ms. Harris closing in on Mr. Trump, closing his slim lead or falling within the margin of error in most cases.

With reporting by Max Matza