Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million from supporters through ActBlue, the main fundraising platform for Democratic organizations.
ActBlue’s fundraising numbers, tracked by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project, recorded this significant amount over a two-day span. While the figure is not officially verified and relies on ActBlue’s historical donation records, it highlights a notable fundraising effort leading up to the mandatory reporting deadlines.
On that Sunday, a remarkable $66.9 million was raised to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the most lucrative day for ActBlue during the 2024 fundraising cycle. This achievement surpasses their previous high of donations, which occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With this recent surge of donations, ActBlue reached a milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception 20 years ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that launched in late 2019, has garnered approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm on social media, sharing that many first-time donors contributed in the past 24 hours, energizing the grassroots movement.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day following Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, a group backing the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in that same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, noted on Monday that Harris’s campaign is poised for strong financial backing, citing support from prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros.
Historically, Biden’s high points in fundraising have closely followed significant events, such as his debate loss to Donald Trump, which led to approximately $28 million raised in a short time frame. Biden also managed to raise $19.2 million after Trump faced legal challenges, while Trump’s campaign experienced a surge of $69 million over just two days after his conviction in May.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.