Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats managed to raise $100 million from donors using their primary fundraising platform.
According to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, ActBlue, a political action committee and fundraising platform for Democratic organizations, recorded this impressive amount over a span of just two days. While these figures are not yet official and are based on ActBlue’s extensive contribution records since 2004, they offer insight into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of the forthcoming disclosure requirements.
On Sunday alone, contributions reached $66.9 million following Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign launch, marking the highest fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. This surpassed the previous record set on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The surge in donations also allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, its Republican counterpart established in late 2019, has gathered around $4.3 billion to date.
ActBlue reported an influx of first-time donors in the past 24 hours, expressing excitement about the growing grassroots support for the campaign. Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left reported raising over $160,000 within a day to support the eventual Democratic nominee.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and voiced his support. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most successful fundraising days came after notable events, such as when he was defeated by Trump in a debate on June 27, 2020, raising about $28 million in the following days. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden collected $19.2 million shortly thereafter, while Trump and his affiliated groups raised $69 million in a single day after his conviction. The significant influx of donors even led to a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website. His associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million in that month.
Between April and June, groups supporting Biden raised a total of $332.4 million, while those backing Trump gathered $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.