Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats managed to raise $100 million through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to fundraising for Democratic groups, recorded this significant amount over a mere two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While the figure is not officially verified and relies on ActBlue’s own tracker since 2004, it gives insight into the fundraising efforts ahead of mandated disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the most successful fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The second-highest day was recorded on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With the recent surge in donations, ActBlue surpassed $14 billion in cash raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising counterpart that started in late 2019, has gathered about $4.3 billion according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue reported a wave of enthusiasm, stating that many contributors made their first-ever donations in the last 24 hours. “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!” the organization posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and Harris’s endorsement. Swing Left, a group supporting the ultimate Democratic nominee, announced it raised over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in the financial backing of Harris’s campaign, stating it would be “very well financed.” Notable Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown support for Harris.
Biden’s previous fundraising peaks occurred immediately after he faced Trump in a debate on June 27, where he and his committees raised about $28 million within 24 hours. He also collected $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, with Trump’s organizations raising $69 million in a similar time frame, temporarily overwhelming his campaign website. In the first half of the year, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups garnered $431.2 million, with Biden holding $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million by the end of June.