Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, the Democratic Party raised an impressive $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform, ActBlue.
Over the past two days, ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to fundraising for Democratic organizations, recorded this significant amount, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. Although this total is not yet official and is based on ActBlue’s own metrics since 2004, it gives insight into the group’s fundraising efforts ahead of upcoming required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions reached $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The previous record for recent fundraising occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The surge in donations has propelled ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total cash raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that was established in late 2019, has gathered about $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm about the new influx of small-dollar donors, noting that many individuals made their first donations in the past 24 hours, calling it “motivating” to witness new grassroots supporters joining the movement.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, an organization that has launched a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same 24-hour period.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated that Harris’s campaign is expected to be “very well financed” with his support, and noted that notable Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also backed her.
Previously, Biden saw substantial fundraising immediately following his defeat by Trump in a televised debate on June 27, raising about $28 million within 24 hours. After Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden accumulated $19.2 million in the following days, while Trump and his associated groups raised $69 million between the day of his conviction on May 30 and May 31. This surge of support temporarily crashed Trump’s campaign website, and the super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups brought in $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million on hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.