After President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek re-election, Democratic donors contributed $100 million through the party’s primary fundraising platform within just two days.
ActBlue, a political action committee focused on fundraising for Democratic entities, reported this substantial amount via a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. While this tally is unofficial and based on ActBlue’s historical donation data since 2004, it offers insight into the party’s fundraising efforts ahead of scheduled disclosure reports.
In a noteworthy fundraising surge, donors provided $66.9 million on a single day, coinciding with the kickoff of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest daily fundraising total for the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. This surpassed the previous significant fundraising day on September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump faced off in their first debate.
This influx of donations also enabled ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the fundraising platform for Republican campaigns launched in late 2019, has accumulated roughly $4.3 billion according to OpenSecrets.
In a statement on social media, ActBlue shared enthusiasm about the increased participation from first-time donors, highlighting the grassroots momentum. Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major supporters within 24 hours following his announcement, while Swing Left reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Financial expert Roger Altman expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign financing, confirming his support, while prominent donors like George and Alex Soros have also backed her.
Historically, Biden has seen significant fundraising boosts following critical campaign moments, such as raising about $28 million after being challenged by Trump during a debate in June. Furthermore, he collected $19.2 million in the days following Trump’s conviction on multiple felony charges. Trump’s campaign also experienced a fundraising surge, raising $69 million in the immediate aftermath of his conviction, leading to brief disruptions on his campaign website.
In the fundraising landscape between April and June, pro-Biden groups gathered $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups received $431.2 million, resulting in Biden having $281 million compared to Trump’s $336.2 million by the end of June.