Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from donors via their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee serving Democratic organizations, reported this impressive amount over a span of two days, as indicated by a live tracker from Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. While this figure is unofficial and based on ActBlue’s extensive donation record since 2004, it offers a glimpse into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of any mandatory disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributors provided $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest fundraising day for ActBlue in the current 2024 election cycle. The second-largest donation day in recent history was recorded on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s tracker.
Due to the donation surge on Sunday, ActBlue surpassed a total of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that became operational in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue reported on X, previously known as Twitter, that many individuals noted they made their first-ever donations in the past 24 hours. “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement,” the platform stated.
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, according to Politico. Additionally, Swing Left, which established a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same 24-hour period.
Evercore founder Roger Altman expressed on Monday that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and publicly declared his support. Notable Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also shown their backing for Harris.
Previously, Biden achieved significant fundraising immediately after facing defeat against Trump during a televised debate on June 27, collecting approximately $28 million between that date and June 28, as reported by a New York Times analysis.
In the aftermath of Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his support groups garnered $69 million from May 30 to May 31, which briefly overwhelmed Trump’s campaign website. The super PAC aligned with Trump, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden organizations amassed $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.