Just a 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 and fundraising tool for Democratic entities, reported these figures within just two days, as noted on a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. While the tally is unofficial and reflects donations since 2004, it offers valuable insight into the group’s fundraising achievements ahead of mandatory disclosure timelines.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million towards Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the peak fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The second-largest fundraising day in recent memory was recorded on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The surge of contributions has allowed ActBlue to reach the milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, its Republican counterpart, WinRed, has collected around $4.3 billion since launching in late 2019, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue stated on X, formerly Twitter, that it has seen a wave of first-time donors in the last 24 hours, dubbing the influx “motivating” and indicative of a growing grassroots movement.
In addition, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours following Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, as reported by Politico. Swing Left, an organization supporting the eventual Democratic nominee, raised over $160,000 within the same timeframe, according to Agence France-Presse.
Evercore founder Roger Altman expressed on Monday that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and affirmed his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
In previous fundraising efforts, Biden experienced significant contributions immediately after his defeat by Trump in a televised debate on June 27, raising approximately $28 million in the following days. Biden also collected $19.2 million after Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, whereas Trump and his affiliated groups raised $69 million in the two days following his conviction on May 30. Notably, the influx of donations caused a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website. Additionally, the super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. raised $70 million that month.
During the period from April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups amassed $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.