Following President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not pursue re-election, Democrats managed to raise $100 million from contributors through their primary fundraising platform within a span of just two days.
ActBlue, the political action committee dedicated to fundraising for Democratic initiatives, reported this significant amount through a live tracking system developed by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. Although this figure is not officially confirmed and relies on ActBlue’s own comprehensive donation tracker that has been in place since 2004, it presents an insightful view into the organization’s fundraising achievements ahead of required reporting.
On Sunday alone, contributors provided $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising total in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous noteworthy fundraising day occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
As a result of the donation surge on Sunday, ActBlue surpassed $14 billion in total fundraising since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent which launched in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion so far.
ActBlue noted on social media that many contributors expressed that this was their first donation, highlighting the influx of new small-dollar donors joining the grassroots effort.
Moreover, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from significant donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which has initiated support for the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, remarked on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and expressed his commitment to support her. Prominent Democratic benefactors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their support for Harris.
Biden’s earlier fundraising spikes occurred following critical moments, such as after a contentious debate with Trump on June 27, which enabled him and his committees to raise about $28 million in the subsequent days. After Trump faced legal challenges and was convicted on 34 felony counts, Biden amassed $19.2 million shortly thereafter, while Trump and his associated groups raised $69 million during the same period. Trump’s campaign website experienced a brief crash due to this influx of donations. Additionally, the aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, groups backing Biden raised a total of $332.4 million, while those supporting Trump collected $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.