Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform, ActBlue.
According to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project, this significant amount was gathered over the past two days. While this total is unofficial, derived from ActBlue’s comprehensive donation records since its inception in 2004, it sheds light on the fundraising success just weeks before any formal disclosures are due.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising total of the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous record was set on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With the recent surge in donations, ActBlue has now raised a total of $14 billion since its establishment two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform launched in late 2019, has accumulated roughly $4.3 billion, as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed excitement on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating, “We’ve seen so many folks saying they made their first ever donation in the last 24 hours! It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!”
Within 24 hours following Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris, the Biden-aligned super PAC Future Forward reportedly received $150 million in new commitments from major donors. Additionally, Swing Left indicated it raised over $160,000 within the same timeframe to support the eventual Democratic nominee.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, commented that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and confirmed his support for her. Notable Democratic donors, George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most successful fundraising days occurred soon after a televised debate on June 27, when he raised approximately $28 million within 24 hours. He also garnered $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, during which Trump and his affiliates raised an impressive $69 million.
Between April and June, pro-Biden groups accumulated $332.4 million, while pro-Trump entities raised $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. As of June’s end, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.