Just one day after President Joe Biden announced that he would not run for re-election, Democrats gathered $100 million from donors via their primary fundraising platform, ActBlue.
The political action committee and fundraising platform reported this impressive amount collected over the previous two days, as noted by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While this figure is not official and is based on ActBlue’s internal tracking since its inception in 2004, it offers insights into the fundraising dynamics ahead of formal disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions surged to $66.9 million following the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the most significant fundraising day of the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. This surpassed previous records, including a notable day on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With this latest wave of donations, ActBlue’s total cash raised since its founding two decades ago reached $14 billion. In contrast, WinRed, its Republican counterpart that started in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm over the surge in contributions, stating that many donors were making their first donations in the last 24 hours, which they described as motivating for the grassroots movement.
Additionally, the pro-Biden super PAC, Future Forward, reportedly secured $150 million in new commitments from major supporters within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. The grassroots group Swing Left also announced it raised over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, noted that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and publicly endorsed her. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their support for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s strongest fundraising days have often coincided with significant events involving Trump, including immediately after a debate loss in June 2020, which netted Biden an estimated $28 million in donations. Biden had also raised $19.2 million following Trump’s recent felony convictions, while Trump’s campaign saw substantial donations that momentarily caused his website to crash.
Between April and June, pro-Biden groups amassed $332.4 million, compared to $431.2 million for pro-Trump groups, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million on hand, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.