Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democratic fundraising saw a significant boost, with $100 million raised from donors via ActBlue, the party’s primary fundraising platform.
According to a live tracker by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project, this amount was accumulated over just two days. While the tally is not official, as it is based on ActBlue’s own records dating back to 2004, it provides insight into the organization’s fundraising performance prior to any mandatory disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributors raised $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest fundraising day in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous high took place on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s data.
This surge in donations pushed ActBlue’s total raised since its inception to $14 billion. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that started in late 2019, has collected around $4.3 billion, as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue announced on its X account (formerly known as Twitter) that many donors noted they made their first-ever contributions after Biden’s announcement. “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!” the organization stated.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, received $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of the announcement and Harris’s endorsement, according to Politico. Swing Left, which supports the eventual Democratic nominee, reported over $160,000 raised within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed his support for Harris’s campaign, stating it would be “very well financed.” Notable Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also endorsed her.
Previously, Biden’s most successful fundraising days occurred after notable events, including a televised debate defeat against Trump on June 27, when he and his affiliates raised approximately $28 million. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony charges, Biden’s campaign collected $19.2 million while Trump’s group raised $69 million in the brief period after the news broke.
From April to June, pro-Biden organizations gathered $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups amassed $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.