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 total over a two-day period, according to real-time data tracked by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. While this figure is unofficial and derived from ActBlue’s comprehensive donation tracker since 2004, it offers insights into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of scheduled disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donations for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign amounted to $66.9 million, marking the highest single-day fundraising total for ActBlue in the 2024 electoral cycle. The previous significant fundraising day occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
Following the surge in contributions on Sunday, ActBlue surpassed $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising counterpart launched in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue expressed excitement over the influx of new contributors, noting that many reported making their first donations in the previous 24 hours, underscoring the grassroots enthusiasm within the movement.
Moreover, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors in the wake of Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris, as reported by Politico. Swing Left, which has initiated a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, stated that it raised over $160,000 within the same time frame.
On Monday, Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and expressed his support. Key Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also backed Harris.
In previous fundraising efforts, Biden experienced significant surges after being defeated by Trump in a televised debate on June 27, raising about $28 million in the subsequent days. Additionally, he garnered $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, while Trump and affiliated groups raised $69 million in the 24 hours after his conviction.
From April to 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.