Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee and fundraising platform for Democratic organizations, reported this significant fundraising total accumulated over two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While the reported numbers aren’t official and stem from ActBlue’s self-tracking since 2004, they provide an early glimpse into the organization’s fundraising achievements before any formal disclosures are submitted.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to kickstart Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the most successful fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The previous high mark for donations was recorded on September 30, 2020, the day of the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The surge in donations allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, its Republican counterpart, WinRed, which launched in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue reported on X, previously known as Twitter, that many individuals claimed to have made their first-ever donation in the last 24 hours, highlighting a growing grassroots movement.
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reportedly secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and Harris’s endorsement. Additionally, Swing Left, a newly established fund backing the Democratic nominee, raised over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and expressed his support for her. Notable Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris.
Previously, Biden’s peak fundraising days followed his defeat by Donald Trump in a televised debate on June 27, which netted him about $28 million within two days. In a similar fashion, Biden garnered $19.2 million shortly after Trump’s indictment on 34 felony counts. Trump and his associates raised $69 million from May 30 to 31, causing a momentary crash of Trump’s campaign website. Additionally, the aligned super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. received $70 million that same month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in reserve compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.