Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that serves Democratic organizations, reported this amount collected over the past two days via a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. Although this figure is not officially confirmed, it offers insight into the group’s fundraising efforts prior to upcoming financial disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions to Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign reached $66.9 million, marking the highest single-day fundraising total for the 2024 election cycle on ActBlue. The second-largest day for fundraising in recent memory was noted on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The recent influx of donations allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the fundraising platform for Republicans that began in late 2019, has garnered around $4.3 billion.
ActBlue emphasized the enthusiasm around these donations in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, noting a surge of first-time donors participating in the grassroots movement.
In addition, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day of Biden’s announcement and Harris’s endorsement. Meanwhile, Swing Left, which supports the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in just 24 hours.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, affirmed on Monday that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and expressed his support. Major Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their backing to Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most successful fundraising periods occurred directly after he faced challenges from Trump, such as raising approximately $28 million following a televised debate defeat on June 27. Additionally, he raised $19.2 million after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, while Trump’s associated groups collected $69 million between May 30 and May 31, which momentarily crashed his campaign website. An aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., garnered $70 million during that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million while pro-Trump organizations brought in $431.2 million, leaving Biden with $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million by the end of June.