Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from contributors through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic organizations, reported this impressive total over the past two days, as recorded by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. While this figure is not officially verified and is drawn from ActBlue’s live donation tracker since its inception, it offers insights into the fundraising results ahead of any forthcoming disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donations totaling $66.9 million poured in to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the highest single-day fundraising total for the 2024 election cycle on the ActBlue platform. The second-highest day for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s data.
Thanks to the remarkable boost in donations on Sunday, ActBlue reached a milestone of $14 billion in total funds raised since its establishment 20 years ago. In contrast, WinRed, which serves as the Republican equivalent and started in late 2019, has amassed approximately $4.3 billion in contributions.
ActBlue celebrated the surge in support, noting that many individuals reported making their first-ever donations in the last 24 hours. “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!” the organization stated on social media.
Moreover, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, garnered $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, as reported by Politico. Swing Left, which was created to assist the eventual Democratic nominee, disclosed it raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and pledged his support. Notable Democratic financiers, including George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris.
Previously, Biden experienced significant fundraising days following a notable defeat by Trump during a televised debate on June 27, raising approximately $28 million within 24 hours post-debate, according to a New York Times analysis.
In addition, Biden raised $19.2 million after Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts. Trump’s campaign and affiliated groups recorded $69 million in donations from May 30 to May 31, leading to a temporary crash of his campaign website. An associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that same month.
Between April and June, organizations supporting Biden collected $332.4 million, while those backing Trump raised $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in available funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.