Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not be seeking re-election, Democratic fundraising efforts surged, bringing in $100 million through ActBlue, the primary fundraising platform for Democratic groups.
The figure, gathered over the span of two days, comes from data tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, and while it is not an official count, it reflects the strong donor activity ahead of the required financial disclosures. On Sunday alone, $66.9 million was raised for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest single-day fundraising total in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous record was set on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With this recent spike in donations, ActBlue has now surpassed $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that started in late 2019, has gathered approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm about the influx of new contributors on social media, noting that many individuals made their first-ever donations following Biden’s announcement. Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from prominent donors after Biden’s endorsement of Harris, while Swing Left raised over $160,000 within a day.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and confirmed his support. Notable Democratic financiers George and Alex Soros have also pledged their backing to Harris.
In previous election cycles, Biden experienced significant fundraising boosts following debates and major political events, including raising approximately $28 million after losing a debate to Trump in June 2020. In the wake of Trump’s recent felony convictions, he and his affiliated groups raised $69 million in just two days. Pro-Biden factions raised $332.4 million between April and June, compared to $431.2 million for pro-Trump groups, according to reports. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in available funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.