In the wake of Kamala Harris’s failed presidential bid, a startling report reveals her campaign ended $20 million in debt despite raising $1 billion from donors. According to sources, election-eve concerts featuring stars like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry—intended to rally “low-propensity voters” to support Harris—cost up to $20 million.
Now, vendors and contractors involved in producing these concerts are reportedly left with unpaid invoices, facing uncertainty as the campaign’s financial fallout unfolds.
In the end, the Kamala Harris campaign staged seven swing-state concerts on election eve, including performances by Jon Bon Jovi in Detroit, Christina Aguilera in Las Vegas, Katy Perry in Pittsburgh, and Lady Gaga in Philadelphia.
Despite raising over $1 billion in donations, Kamala Harris's presidential campaign reportedly ended up $20 million in debt, with a significant portion of that spending going toward election-eve concerts featuring stars like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and others. These concerts, aimed at energizing "low-propensity voters," were held in key swing states, which ultimately went to President-elect Donald Trump.
While the pop stars waived their performance fees, the campaign still had to cover substantial costs for staging, sound, security, and logistics. Sources say the concert idea, pushed by Obama campaign veterans Stephanie Cutter and David Plouffe, was intended to galvanize voter turnout. Harris-Walz campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon approved the plans but is now distancing herself from the decision amid internal criticism. Reports indicate she was reluctant to greenlight the concerts and delayed the decision for weeks, leading to inflated production costs. A source claimed that the last-minute nature of the events doubled the expenses.
The campaign’s operations chief, Dana Rosenzweig, has also faced scrutiny for overseeing the budget. One source commented, “They said they were ‘spending to zero.’ I guess they overshot zero.”
In addition to the concerts, the campaign held celebrity events featuring stars like Lizzo and Eminem, which were reportedly all Jen O’Malley Dillon’s idea. A staffer confirmed to Breitbart News that she “blew through a billion dollars in a few months,” raising questions about the campaign’s financial management. The costs of a previous concert featuring Megan Thee Stallion in Atlanta also remain unclear, adding to concerns over the campaign's reliance on celebrity-driven events to boost turnout.