Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party successfully raised $100 million through its primary fundraising platform, ActBlue.
According to a live tracker from Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, ActBlue recorded this significant amount over just two days. Although this figure is based on ActBlue’s own mega-tracker and is not an official tally, it offers insights into the fundraising activities ahead of the forthcoming disclosures.
On Sunday, alone, contributions reached $66.9 million following the announcement of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking a record fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous high was noted on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s tracker.
This surge in donations allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform established in late 2019, has collected approximately $4.3 billion.
In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, ActBlue shared the excitement of witnessing numerous first-time donors contributing in the past 24 hours, emphasizing the positive momentum for grassroots support.
The super PAC Future Forward, aligned with Biden, reportedly received $150 million in pledges from major donors within a day of his announcement and endorsement of Harris. Additionally, the organization Swing Left stated that it raised over $160,000 within the same time frame to support the eventual Democratic nominee.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed on Monday that he believes Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and confirmed his backing. Notable Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown support for Harris.
Previously, Biden experienced significant fundraising boosts after key events, including raising approximately $28 million following a challenging debate against Trump on June 27. Additionally, Biden gathered $19.2 million in the days after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, while Trump and his affiliated groups raised $69 million in the window immediately following his conviction.
During a period from April to June, groups supporting Biden raised $332.4 million, contrasted with the $431.2 million raised by Trump’s supporters. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.