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. According to a live tracker monitored by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, this amount was gathered in just two days via ActBlue, a political action committee for Democratic groups. While this figure is not official and is based on ActBlue’s long-term tracking of donations since its inception in 2004, it offers insight into the fundraising climate ahead of the upcoming disclosures.
On Sunday alone, the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign attracted $66.9 million in donations, marking the highest single day of fundraising in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The previous record for a similar fundraising surge occurred during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump on September 30, 2020.
The fundraising surge pushed ActBlue’s total raised since its launch two decades ago to $14 billion. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that began in late 2019, has amassed approximately $4.3 billion during the same period.
ActBlue remarked on social media that many contributors were making their first donations ever in the wake of Biden’s decision, indicating a strong grassroots movement. Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Another group, Swing Left, reported raising over $160,000 in the same time frame.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed his belief that Harris’s campaign will be robustly funded and affirmed his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing.
Historically, Biden’s strongest fundraising efforts have followed significant events, such as raising approximately $28 million after being challenged by Trump during a debate on June 27. Additionally, Biden gathered $19.2 million in funds following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts. In that same timeframe, Trump and affiliated groups raised $69 million, leading to a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website due to the influx of donations. The super PAC aligned with Trump, Make America Great Again Inc., raised another $70 million that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden organizations brought in $332.4 million, while pro-Trump entities raised $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the close of June, Biden had $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.