Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to supporting Democratic initiatives, reported this amount over a two-day period, as tracked by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. While this figure isn’t considered official and is based on ActBlue’s long-term donation records since 2004, it highlights significant fundraising activity ahead of mandatory financial disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed nearly $66.9 million to the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking a record fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous high for daily donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With the recent donations, ActBlue has now raised a total of $14 billion since its establishment two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican equivalent launched in late 2019, has generated around $4.3 billion in donations.
ActBlue announced on X (formerly Twitter) that many people have made their first donation within the last 24 hours, expressing excitement over new supporters joining the grassroots movement.
Following Biden’s announcement and Harris’s endorsement, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours, while Swing Left reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s financing capabilities and affirmed his support. Major Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris’s campaign.
Biden’s previous notable fundraising spikes followed his losses in debates against Donald Trump, including raising about $28 million right after a debate on June 27. He also garnered $19.2 million after Trump faced 34 felony counts. Trump’s campaign and allied groups collectively raised $69 million following his conviction in late May, which briefly crashed his campaign website. Overall, from April to June, pro-Biden organizations raised approximately $332.4 million while pro-Trump entities brought in about $431.2 million. By the close of June, Biden had $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.