Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million from donors through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee and fundraising platform for Democratic organizations, reported this impressive total over just two days. This figure, recorded by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project, reflects a live tracker of donations raised since 2004 and gives insight into the fundraising efforts ahead of required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, nearly $66.9 million was raised to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign launch, marking the highest single-day fundraising total for ActBlue in this election cycle. In comparison, the previous record for daily donations came on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The recent donation surge resulted in ActBlue surpassing a milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform established in late 2019, has amassed approximately $4.3 billion in donations, according to OpenSecrets.
In a statement on social media, ActBlue noted the excitement surrounding the influx of donations, highlighting that many individuals reported making their first donation in the past 24 hours. “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!” they remarked.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reported securing $150 million in fresh commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which aims to support the eventual Democratic nominee, announced it raised more than $160,000 shortly thereafter.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s financing, affirming his support for her campaign. Notably, Democratic mega-donors George and Alex Soros have also shown their backing for Harris.
Previously, Biden’s most successful fundraising days occurred after a significant defeat against Trump during a televised debate on June 27, which brought in approximately $28 million within two days. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliated groups garnered $69 million in a single day following the conviction. This overwhelming response briefly caused a crash of Trump’s campaign website, with an associated super PAC raising $70 million that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.