Just a day after President Joe Biden announced his decision not to pursue re-election, the Democratic Party has raised an impressive $100 million through its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, which serves as a political action committee and fundraising hub for Democratic organizations, reported this amount collected over the last two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. Although this total is not officially confirmed and is based on ActBlue’s long-term donation tracker, it provides valuable insight into the organization’s fundraising efforts ahead of required disclosures.
On Sunday, donations soared to $66.9 million following the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the most significant fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. This surpasses the previous high, which occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
As a result of this fundraising surge, ActBlue has hit a milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, which was established for Republican fundraising in late 2019, has gathered around $4.3 billion.
ActBlue remarked on social media that many individuals reported making their first donation recently, highlighting the energizing effect of new small-dollar contributors joining the grassroots movement.
In addition, 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, which initiated a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within 24 hours.
Prominent figures in the Democratic donor community, including Evercore founder Roger Altman and mega-donors George and Alex Soros, have also expressed their support for Harris’s campaign.
Previously, Biden experienced his strongest fundraising days immediately following his defeat in a debate against Trump on June 27, during which he and his committees raised around $28 million. In the aftermath of Trump’s conviction on multiple felony charges, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliated groups brought in $69 million in just two days after the conviction, causing a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website.
Between April and June, groups supportive of Biden raised $332.4 million, while those backing Trump garnered $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.