Mainers are continuing to open their wallets to support Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign against former President Donald Trump.

Harris’ campaign raised more than $1 million last month in Maine – about eight times Trump’s $130,000 haul – and continued to grow her fundraising advantage since becoming the Democratic nominee in July. So far, Harris has raised more than $4.6 million, or five times the $930,000 raised by Trump.

The Harris campaign’s fundraising in Maine mirrors national trends. Harris has raised $903.5 million nationally while Trump has raised $367.1 million.

It’s unclear what that fundraising advantage means for Election Day, however.

Individual donations to the campaigns – which are limited to a maximum of $3,300 per person – are often seen as a sign of enthusiasm and grassroots support. But those totals don’t include the much larger donations to independent political action committees that are spending billions of dollars to influence the race.

Nicholas Jacobs, associate government professor at Colby College, said it’s difficult to draw many conclusions based on campaign fundraising alone, especially with Trump, who tends to defy the traditional laws of political gravity and has no trouble getting attention for free.

“Money can tell you some important things, but it’s becoming increasingly less obvious about what those things are, because there’s so much money, and the money is coming from so many different places in the larger campaign environment,” Jacobs said.

Trump has picked up one of Maine’s four Electoral College votes each of the last two elections by winning the 2nd Congressional District, despite trailing in Maine fundraising to both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.

Maine is one of two states to allocate its Electoral College votes by congressional district. The winner of the statewide vote gets two Electoral College votes and the winner of each of the state’s two congressional districts get one each.

Harris has outraised Trump in most of the 2nd District, even though he has strong support there. Aroostook and Piscataquis are the only counties where the Trump campaign has raised more.

Harris’ fundraising totals include money raised by President Biden before he dropped out of the race in July, but most of the funds raised in Maine and nationwide poured in after she took over as the Democrats’ nominee.

“The truncated nature of the campaign has definitely created this artificial spike in late election fundraising (for Harris),” Jacobs said. “Not that it’s not impressive, not that it doesn’t signal something about Democratic enthusiasm, but you can’t fully disentangle it from the fact she’s running the shortest political campaign in modern political history.”

Amy Cookson, spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign in Maine, said in a written statement that the funding will help reach voters in all corners of the state.

“Our campaign is working to ensure voters in every corner of Maine know the stakes of this election,” Cookson said. “Vice President Harris will lower costs, protect our health care and secure our freedoms, while Donald Trump is running on an extreme Project 2025 agenda that would cut Social Security and Medicare and roll back even more of our fundamental rights and freedoms, including banning abortion nationwide.”

The Maine Republican Party, which is overseeing Trump’s reelection campaign in Maine along with the Republican National Committee, did not respond to questions sent by email about the latest round of fundraising reports and whether the lack of fundraising here could signal weak support.

Generally, Trump appears to have an immovable base of support across much the country and in Maine’s 2nd District, plus an ability to show up on TV and news sites without spending money. At the same time, voters are still getting to know Harris, especially how she would differ from Biden, whom she replaced as the Democratic nominee after the president’s disastrous debate performance in June.

Most polling shows Harris and Trump locked in a tight race, especially in the handful of battleground states that will determine the outcome of the election.

And their respective campaign coffers represent only a fraction of the total spending in the race, which is drawing billions in spending from outside groups that are not directly controlled by the candidates.

So far, outside groups have spent roughly $1.2 billion either supporting or opposing Harris and Trump this year, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Harris has an edge there as well, with her allies spending about $594 million, compared to Trump’s allies, who have spent $556 million.

Most of the spending – more than $900 million – is focused on defining Harris for voters, one way or the other. A total of $481 million was spent in support of Harris and nearly $424 million was used to oppose her and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

That level of spending aimed at Harris suggests that both sides are trying to answer lingering questions about the vice president and what kind of president she might be.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. Morry Gash/Associated Press

James Melcher, political science professor at the University of Maine Farmington, said Trump’s lack of fundraising may stem from perceptions of his personal wealth, plus reports that he is using campaign contributions to pay his legal bills. Either way, he said it’s Harris that needs the money more than Trump, who has spent his life in the public eye and served four years as president.

“Trump doesn’t need to do as much to raise his name recognition as Kamala Harris does,” Melcher said. “She needs the money more than he does. She’s still introducing herself to a lot the country, whereas people have made up their minds to some extent about Trump.”

Jacobs agreed.

“Trump is a known quantity,” Jacobs said. “In comparison to Trump, Harris is a unknown political figure and money matters in delivering a message to voters who are unfamiliar with you or have apprehensions about what they know about you.”

While Harris is leading among small dollar donors, Trump is increasingly relying on billionaires like technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, casino magnate Miriam Adelson and World Wrestling Entertainment co-founder Linda McMahon to fund his campaign, rather than the small dollar donations that helped propel him into office in 2016, according to Bloomberg.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. Evan Vucci/Associated Press

Some political analysts believe Trump may need to hold on to Maine’s 2nd Congressional District to reach the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure the presidency. But so far, the campaign has not sent any high-profile surrogates to the state – a sign that Team Trump believes it has the 2nd District locked up.

Jacobs said that’s likely a sign that the Trump campaign realizes one Electoral College vote means nothing, unless Trump wins Pennsylvania and North Carolina, where polling shows a virtual dead heat.

The Harris campaign, meanwhile, has 14 of its 25 coordinated campaign field offices in the 2nd District and is trying to win over Trump-averse Republicans, especially the nearly 28,000 voters who supported South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley during the Maine Republican primary.

The Harris campaign has been highlighting high-profile Republicans and former Trump administration officials who are supporting her candidacy, including former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney.

They’re taking a similar approach in Maine, where the campaign has rolled out the support of local Republicans, including former Maine Republican Party executive directors Tony Payne, Jay Hibbard and Don Bourassa; former party chairs Ted O’Meara, Ken Cole, Robert Monks and Mark Ellis; former assistant Republican leader Roger Katz; and former lawmaker and gubernatorial candidate Peter Mills, the brother of Gov. Janet Mills.

Harris has also brought a roster of high-profile surrogates to the state, including her husband, Doug Emhoff, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison, former DNC Chairman Tom Perez and  Gwen Walz, wife of Harris’ running mate.

Maine voters should not expect the election results to be as lopsided as the fundraising totals have been over the last month or so, said Melcher, the UMaine Farmington professor.

“I think she’s going to win the state, but it sure doesn’t mean she’s going to win the 2nd district, which Trump has won twice in a row,” Melcher said. “Certainly, that ratio will not hold. She will not outperform Donald Trump eight- or nine-to-one in the state.”