Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party saw a remarkable fundraising boost, with $100 million raised through its primary platform for donations.
ActBlue, the political action committee responsible for fundraising for Democratic initiatives, reported this impressive sum over the past two days through a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. While this tally isn’t official and is based on internal tracking of donations dating back to 2004, it gives insight into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of mandatory reporting deadlines.
On the previous Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the largest fundraising day thus far in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The second highest fundraising day in recent memory occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s data.
The surge of contributions on Sunday propelled ActBlue’s total cash raised to $14 billion since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent that was established in late 2019, has raised about $4.3 billion to date, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue reported an influx of new donors, stating, “We’ve seen so many folks saying they made their first ever donation in the last 24 hours! It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!”
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from significant donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, an organization aimed at supporting the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence on Monday, stating that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and confirmed his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also shown support for Harris.
Biden previously experienced significant fundraising spikes following key events, including after a challenging televised debate against Trump on June 27, which generated approximately $28 million in contributions. Biden also raised $19.2 million in the days following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, while Trump and associated groups raised $69 million in the days surrounding that conviction. The overwhelming donor response even temporarily crashed Trump’s campaign website, with an aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raising $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups collected $332.4 million, while pro-Trump initiatives garnered $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.