Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party successfully raised $100 million through its primary fundraising platform.
According to data from ActBlue, a political action committee that facilitates fundraising for Democratic organizations, this significant amount was amassed over just two days. Ryan Murphy, a developer with The Marshall Project, maintains a live tracker reflecting these figures, although the total is unofficial as it is based on ActBlue’s own extensive donation records since its inception in 2004.
On Sunday, donations surged to $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising total for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. This surpasses the previous record set on September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump faced off in their first presidential debate.
With this influx of donations, ActBlue has now raised a total of $14 billion since its launch two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform initiated in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion, as noted by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue reported an exciting trend, with many first-time donors contributing within the last 24 hours, illustrating a growing grassroots movement.
In addition to ActBlue’s success, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Similarly, Swing Left, which established a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within a day.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, indicated that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and expressed his commitment to supporting her. Notable Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their support for Harris.
Historically, Biden experienced sizeable fundraising spikes in the past, particularly after a loss to Trump in a debate on June 27, which brought in around $28 million within a day. Post Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliated groups amassed $69 million within 24 hours of his conviction. This overwhelming response caused a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website. During the same month, the super PAC aligned with Trump raised $70 million.
From April to June, pro-Biden organizations collected $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups raised $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.