Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic initiatives, recorded this amount over the past two days, as indicated by a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. While this figure isn’t official—being based on ActBlue’s extensive donation tracking since 2004—it offers insights into fundraising performance ahead of required financial disclosures.
On Sunday, donors contributed $66.9 million to Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign launch, marking the largest single-day fundraising event for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous high for recent contributions was noted on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
Following this donation surge, ActBlue reached $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising counterpart that started in late 2019, has garnered approximately $4.3 billion, as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed excitement over the influx of new donors, stating that many reported making their first-ever contributions in the last 24 hours, emphasizing the momentum of grassroots support.
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, received $150 million in new commitments from significant donors within a day of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Additionally, the organization Swing Left stated it raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign financing and pledged his backing. Prominent Democratic donors like George and Alex Soros have also shown support for her candidacy.
Previously, Biden experienced notable fundraising success immediately following a televised debate defeat against Trump on June 27, raising around $28 million within 24 hours. He also raised approximately $19.2 million after Trump faced felony charges. Conversely, Trump’s campaign collected $69 million in a similar period, which briefly overwhelmed his campaign website. In total, Trump’s aligned super PAC raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups amassed $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 funds available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.