Just a day after President Joe Biden announced that he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million through its primary fundraising platform, ActBlue.
According to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project, this significant amount was raised within two days. While the figures are not officially verified—being based on ActBlue’s historical donation data since 2004—they provide insight into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of the forthcoming disclosure requirements.
On the previous Sunday, supporters contributed $66.9 million to mark the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the largest fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. This surpassed a previous high recorded on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
Following the surge in donations, ActBlue celebrated crossing the $14 billion milestone in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent that started in late 2019, has gathered around $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue noted in a statement on social media that many new donors reported making their first-ever contributions in the last 24 hours, highlighting an influx of small-dollar donations to the grassroots campaign.
A Biden-aligned super PAC, Future Forward, secured $150 million in new commitments from major contributors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which initiated a fund to back the eventual Democratic nominee, indicated that it raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence on Monday that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed,” and noted support from prominent Democratic donors like George and Alex Soros.
Historically, Biden’s strongest fundraising days have occurred following major events, such as his defeat to Trump in a debate on June 27, where he and his committees raised approximately $28 million in the following days. After Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden’s campaign pulled in $19.2 million, while Trump and his allies raised $69 million in a brief period that caused his campaign website to temporarily crash. Reports indicate that pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million from April to June, while pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million, leaving Biden with $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million by the end of June.