Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democratic fundraising boomed, with $100 million raised through the main fundraising platform.
ActBlue, the political action committee and fundraising platform for Democratic groups, reported this impressive sum over the last two days, according to a live tracker by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While the figure is not official and is based on ActBlue’s own tracking of donations since 2004, it showcases the fundraising efforts ahead of formal disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million toward Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the most productive fundraising day in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The second-highest day for fundraising recently was September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, as noted by Murphy’s tracker.
With this surge in donations, ActBlue has surpassed $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform launched in late 2019, has gathered approximately $4.3 billion in donations, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed excitement in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, reporting a wave of first-time donors joining the grassroots movement.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of his announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which launched a fund backing the future Democratic nominee, also reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in the financial backing of Harris’s campaign on Monday, committing his support. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris.
Historically, Biden’s highest fundraising days followed significant events, including after a televised debate defeat to Trump on June 27, which brought in approximately $28 million in the following days, according to a New York Times analysis. After Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliates garnered a remarkable $69 million in just 24 hours after his conviction.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups brought in $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million on hand, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.