Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from contributors through their primary fundraising platform. ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to Democratic organizations, reported this amount over the past two days according to a live tracker by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. Although this tally is not official and relies on ActBlue’s extensive donation history since 2004, it offers insight into the organization’s fundraising performance shortly before official disclosures are required.
On Sunday alone, donations reached $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The second-largest fundraising day recently was on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, as noted by Murphy’s tracker.
The recent surge in donations has also allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that started in late 2019, has accumulated approximately $4.3 billion to date, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue reported a notable increase in first-time donors, stating, “We’ve seen so many folks saying they made their first ever donation in the last 24 hours! It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!”
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major benefactors within a day of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Meanwhile, Swing Left, which initiated a fund backing the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed his belief that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and has pledged his backing. Prominent Democratic donors such as George and Alex Soros have also shown support for Harris.
Previously, Biden had his most successful fundraising days following a televised debate on June 27, where he was notably challenged by Trump. In the aftermath, Biden and affiliated organizations raised around $28 million from June 27 to June 28, as analyzed by the New York Times.
Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, whereas Trump and his associated groups collected $69 million between May 30 and May 31, leading to a momentarily overloaded campaign website. Additionally, the super PAC aligned with Trump, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million while pro-Trump entities garnered $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By June’s end, Biden had $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.