Kamala Harris' campaign raises $12 mn in three months

Washington: White House hopeful Kamala Harris, the first Indian-origin US Senator, has raised nearly $12 million in the past three months, her presidential campaign has announced.

A rising Democratic party star and vocal critic of President Donald Trump, 54-year-old Harris, however, is far behind from her top rivals including Senator Bernie San-ders of Vermont and former Vice-President Joe Biden, Fox News reported. Her haul was far behind the $21.5 million raised by Biden and the $18 million brought in by Sanders, it said.

Boosted by a break-out performance in last week's first round of Democratic presidential nomination debates, Harris raised nearly $12 million the past three months, her presidential campaign announced on Friday. The fundraising haul, however, is pretty much on par with what she brought in during the first quarter of the year, the report said.

The Harris campaign reported that their April-June haul came from more than 2,79,000 contributors, and that 1,50,000 of those donors were new to the campaign.

The campaign added that more than $7 million was raised online and that the average contribution during the second quarter was $39, with an average of $24 for online donations. Around $2 million of the amount she raised came in the wake of her confrontation with Biden during last week's debate.

During the showdown, Harris grilled Biden about recent comments where he spotlighted his ability to work decades ago with segregationist senators that he disagreed with in order to find common ground. And she criticized his stance against federally mandated busing to desegregate schools.

She also shared a personal story of being bused to school as a little girl as her campaign quickly tweeted out a photo of Harris as a young child. Her campaign instantly began selling shirts with that photo and her quote, 'That Little Girl Was Me'.