After Kamala Harris’s campaign reportedly spent up to $20 million on swing-state concerts the night before her significant election loss to Donald Trump, concerns have arisen about whether campaign staff and vendors will be paid, as sources indicate the campaign now faces debt of the same amount.
Members of the Harris campaign expressed that the concerts drained the campaign’s financial resources, with even one scheduled performance by 90s rock star Alanis Morissette canceled in an attempt to cut costs.
The election-eve events featured artists like Jon Bon Jovi in Detroit, Christina Aguilera in Las Vegas, Katy Perry in Pittsburgh, and Lady Gaga in Philadelphia, with rapper 2 Chainz joining Harris for another concert in Atlanta on November 2, three days before the election.
According to two sources, Stephanie Cutter, a veteran of the Obama campaign, advocated for the concert series as a strategy to encourage lower-turnout voters.
While the artists volunteered their time, the scale of the production required considerable funding and manpower. Cutter reportedly had the support of another Obama campaign alumnus, David Plouffe.
Harris brought Cutter and Plouffe into her campaign after taking over the Democratic ticket from President Biden in July, leading to some tension with the original Biden team as the new advisors attempted to replicate tactics from the 2008 Obama campaign.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, the Harris-Walz campaign chairwoman, eventually greenlit the concert events but has since, according to some colleagues, claimed she had reservations about the idea and delayed approving it, which reportedly drove up production costs as last-minute planning doubled expenses.
