Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million through its primary fundraising platform, ActBlue. This significant amount was recorded over two days, according to a live tracker developed by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. While this figure is unofficial, as it is based on ActBlue’s ongoing tally of donations since its inception in 2004, it offers insight into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of required financial disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions totaled $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising total for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous record was set on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, as noted by Murphy.
The surge in donations pushed ActBlue’s overall fundraising total since its founding to $14 billion. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform launched in late 2019, has raised around $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm about the influx of new donors, 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!”
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from high-profile donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, as reported by Politico. Another group, Swing Left, revealed it raised over $160,000 within the same 24-hour period.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, indicated on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and publicly pledged his support. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
Biden’s previous fundraising spikes occurred after key events, such as the aftermath of his debate loss to Donald Trump on June 27, 2020, during which Biden and his committees raised approximately $28 million. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden garnered $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliated groups raised $69 million within a two-day period, with the donations briefly overwhelming Trump’s campaign website. His supporting super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden organizations collected $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups amassed $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.