Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democratic fundraising efforts saw a surge, bringing in $100 million from donors through ActBlue, the primary platform for Democratic political contributions. This total was reported in a live tracker created by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, and while unofficial, it highlights the group’s fundraising progress before official reports are due.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed an impressive $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising achievement for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous record was set on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
This surge in donations pushed ActBlue’s total raised since its inception 20 years ago to $14 billion. In comparison, WinRed, which serves as the Republican fundraising counterpart, has collected around $4.3 billion since its launch in late 2019, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed excitement over the influx of new donors, noting that many mentioned they made their first-ever contributions in the last 24 hours. This demonstrates a growing grassroots movement among small-dollar contributors.
In addition, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day of Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris. The organization Swing Left, which is backing the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same time frame.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, commented that Harris’s campaign is set to be “very well financed” and emphasized his support for her. Major Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s fundraising spikes often follow significant political events. After a televised debate loss to Trump on June 27, Biden’s team raised about $28 million in the following days. Furthermore, Biden raised $19.2 million shortly after Trump faced conviction on 34 felony counts. Trump and his associated groups reported raising $69 million during the immediate aftermath of his conviction on May 30, leading to a temporary crash of his campaign website due to the high volume of donations. An affiliated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised an impressive $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups amassed $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups garnered $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in available funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.