Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democratic organizations raised $100 million from donors using their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic groups, recorded this sum within a two-day period, according to a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. This total, although not an official count, offers insight into the group’s fundraising performance before any official disclosures are due.
On Sunday alone, contributors provided $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 cycle. The previous record for donations was set on September 30, 2020, the day of the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, as indicated by Murphy’s tracker.
This surge of donations allowed ActBlue to reach $14 billion in cash raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the fundraising platform for Republicans, has accumulated around $4.3 billion since it launched in late 2019.
“We’ve seen so many folks saying they made their first ever donation in the last 24 hours!” ActBlue posted on X, previously known as Twitter. “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!”
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from significant donors within a day of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, as reported by Politico. Swing Left, which created a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, stated it raised over $160,000 in just 24 hours.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, commented on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and expressed his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris.
Previously, Biden’s notable fundraising days occurred immediately after he faced a significant defeat from Trump during a televised debate on June 27, where Biden and his committees raised approximately $28 million in just over 24 hours. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliated groups raised $69 million in the days following on May 30 and May 31, leading to a brief crash of Trump’s campaign website. An associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $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.