Kamala Harris Raises $2 Million After Debate, Despite Online Attacks

Kamala Harris 2019 Debate (Credit: YouTube/NBC News)

Sen. Kamala Harris raised $2 million in the first 24 hours after her appearance in Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate, her campaign said.

“We have momentum,” Lily Adams, the campaign’s communications director, told CBS News Saturday.

“Supporters across this country are fueling our campaign because they saw her empathy, her passion, and her direct focus on the issues that keep people up at night,” Adams added.

Harris also shared the information on her Twitter feed.

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Interest in Harris jumped on the second night of the debate when she challenged former Vice President Joe Biden on his relationship with segregationists during his time in the U.S. Senate, and his voting record on racial issues.

“I do not believe you are a racist,” Harris began. “It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country. And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing. And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.”

The California senator received applause from the studio audience, however, the exchange sparked attacks on Twitter from racists and trolls.

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Among those lashing out was right-wing commentator, Ali Alexander, who claimed Harris doesn’t represent African-Americans because her father was born in Jamaica and his ancestors weren’t enslaved in the U.S.

“Kamala Harris is *not* an American Black. She is half Indian and half Jamaican,” Alexander tweeted Thursday night. “I’m so sick of people robbing American Blacks (like myself) of our history. It’s disgusting. Now using it for debate time at #DemDebate2?”

The post went viral when Donald Trump Jr. — President Trump’s eldest son — retweeted it along with the caption “Is this true? Wow.”

After facing criticism, Trump Jr. deleted his tweet, but several websites, including HuffPost, made screen shots of it.

Harris, a former California attorney general, is the biracial daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother. She was born in Oakland.