Purpose of the Table: This analysis aims to estimate spending allocations across categories such as "Media & Advertising," "Consulting & Strategy," and "Hotels." Recognizing that individual expenditures can often serve multiple purposes, each transaction was assessed to identify potential categories based on keywords in the description and or the recipient name.
Double-Counting: If a single expenditure is related to multiple categories for instance, if "Consulting" overlaps with "Media", it is counted in both "Consulting & Strategy" and "Media & Advertising." This double-counting approach is deliberate, designed to provide a comprehensive view of possible spending allocations in each category, acknowledging that some expenditures may naturally span multiple areas.
Implications for Resulting Totals:: Due to this approach, the sum of "Total Amount Disbursed" across categories exceeds the actual total amount spent. Expenditures may appear in more than one category if they are associated with multiple purposes.
Limitations of This Estimation: This table provides an approximate view of potential spending areas, rather than a precise accounting of each dollar’s intended purpose. Given the limitations in descriptive information, especially due to the nature of the Harris campaign's filings, the table relies on inferred categorizations rather than explicit allocation data.
Contextual Note: The Harris for President campaign filings include fewer descriptive details than those of the Trump campaign, which offer more specificity. As a result, this approach was essential to estimate spending allocations without granular information on each transaction’s precise purpose.
If you’re interested in seeing a similar comparison of spending categories for the Trump campaign, look here.
The methodology for estimating total possible disbursements across spending categories varies between the Trump and Harris campaigns, reflecting differences in the specificity of disbursement descriptions and the potential informational value of recipient names. This variation impacts the interpretability and granularity of expenditure classification across categories for each campaign.
| Spending Category | Total Possible Amount Disbursed | # of Possible Qualifying Disbursements |
|---|---|---|
| Media & Advertising | $696,358,000.00 | 1,970 |
| Technology & Software | $264,822,000.00 | 5,488 |
| Consulting & Strategy | $135,903,000.00 | 677 |
| Event Production/Media Production | $72,540,300.00 | 16,486 |
| Personnel/Payroll | $56,672,800.00 | 8,296 |
| Miscellaneous Fees | $18,662,800.00 | 8,629 |
| Travel & Transportation | $14,921,800.00 | 8,405 |
| Donations & Transfers/Contributions | $11,003,300.00 | 10,859 |
| Reimbursements | $5,329,360.00 | 11,293 |
| Hotels | $3,366,650.00 | 800 |
| Office & Supplies | $1,783,170.00 | 1,094 |
| Event & Facility Rentals | $173,775.00 | 21 |