Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not be running for re-election, the Democratic Party managed to raise $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform.
The political action committee ActBlue, which facilitates fundraising for Democratic groups, reported that amount over a two-day period, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer from The Marshall Project. This figure is not officially certified, as it is derived from ActBlue’s donation records, which date back to 2004, but it offers insight into fundraising performance ahead of required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed a remarkable $66.9 million to the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest fundraising day of the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous record for a fundraising day occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s data.
This influx of donations helped ActBlue surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, its Republican counterpart WinRed, which started in late 2019, has raised about $4.3 billion thus far, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed excitement over the newfound donor participation, 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, reported receiving $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which established a fund to support the Democratic nominee, claimed to have raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, remarked on Monday that Harris’s campaign is set to be “very well financed” and affirmed his support. Notable Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also shown their backing for Harris.
Previously, Biden experienced substantial fundraising immediately following a debate loss to Trump on June 27, 2020, bringing in approximately $28 million by June 28. In the days after Trump was convicted on 34 felony charges, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliates amassed $69 million in the 24-hour period following his conviction on May 30. This surge in donations even caused a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website, while an associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., collected $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in cash on hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.