Just a day after President Joe Biden announced that he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party generated $100 million from donors via its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that facilitates fundraising for Democratic organizations, reported this significant total over the past two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. While this figure is unofficial and derived from ActBlue’s extensive donation tracking since 2004, it offers insight into the group’s fundraising performance before required disclosures are submitted.
On Sunday alone, contributions amounted to $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, setting a record for the highest single-day fundraising in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The previous record for donations was reportedly during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump on September 30, 2020.
Due to the surge in contributions on Sunday, ActBlue surpassed $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that started in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue mentioned in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that many people reported making their first donation in the last 24 hours, which they found inspiring for grassroots engagement.
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reportedly secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day following Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which is backing the potential Democratic nominee, stated it collected over $160,000 within 24 hours.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed strong support for Harris’s campaign, indicating it will be well-funded. Additionally, major Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also expressed their backing.
Previously, Biden experienced significant fundraising success after a televised debate on June 27, where he raised about $28 million in a day. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump’s campaign saw a boost of $69 million just after the conviction, even causing a temporary crash of his campaign website. His affiliated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million in the same month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups garnered $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.