Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats raised an impressive $100 million from donors through ActBlue, their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic efforts, reported this substantial amount over the course of two days via a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. While this tally isn’t official and is based on ActBlue’s records since its inception in 2004, it offers insight into fundraising ahead of required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest single-day fundraising effort for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. This surpassed the second-biggest single-day total, which came on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
Following the surge in donations, ActBlue reported reaching $14 billion in total funds raised since its creation two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican counterpart established in late 2019, has raised about $4.3 billion.
ActBlue shared their excitement on social media, noting, “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, garnered $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of his announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which has launched a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and has pledged his support. Notable Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most successful fundraising days occurred after he faced setbacks against Trump, including raising $28 million following a particularly tough debate on June 27. He also added $19.2 million shortly after Trump was indicted on multiple felony counts, while Trump and his affiliated groups raised $69 million during the same period, causing a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website. An aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month alone.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden was reported to have $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.