Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform, ActBlue. The fundraising occurred over the span of two days, as reported by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While the total is not officially sanctioned, it provides insight into the party’s fundraising activities ahead of mandatory disclosure deadlines.
On just Sunday, contributors donated $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest one-day fundraising total for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The second-highest day for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
As a result of the increased donations on Sunday, ActBlue surpassed $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that started in late 2019, has accumulated around $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue noted the significant number of first-time donors after Biden’s announcement, expressing enthusiasm about the growing grassroots movement. Additionally, 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. Swing Left, which supports the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same 24-hour period.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, commented that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and expressed his support for her. High-profile Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their backing.
Previously, Biden experienced notable fundraising spikes after key events, including a post-debate boost of approximately $28 million following a defeat against Trump on June 27. After Trump’s recent conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliated groups generated $69 million within two days. In fact, the rush of donations temporarily caused Trump’s campaign website to crash. An associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised an additional $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups collected $332.4 million, while pro-Trump organizations raised $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.