Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from donors using their primary fundraising platform.
According to a live tracker maintained by a developer at The Marshall Project, the political action committee ActBlue reported this total over the past two days. While this figure is not official, it offers a glimpse into the group’s fundraising performance in advance of any required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions reached $66.9 million for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign launch, marking it as the largest fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The previous high for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The boost in donations on Sunday also propelled ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total cash raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican equivalent launched in late 2019, has raised about $4.3 billion, as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue noted on social media that many individuals shared that it was their first donation ever, highlighting the successful engagement of new small-dollar donors in the grassroots movement.
Additionally, 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. Swing Left, which initiated a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within a day.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and confirmed his support for her. Significant Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden has experienced substantial fundraising peaks after notable events, such as raising approximately $28 million following his defeat by Donald Trump in a televised debate on June 27. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliated groups collected $69 million in the days surrounding his conviction on May 30.
Between April and June, groups supporting Biden raised $332.4 million, while those supporting Trump collected $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.