Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, the Democratic Party raised an impressive $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee and fundraising system for Democratic organizations, reported this figure accumulated over the past two days, according to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. While this total is not officially certified — it relies on ActBlue’s extensive donation tracker since 2004 — it offers insight into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest fundraising day in the current 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The previous record for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump faced off in their first presidential debate.
Due to this significant influx of donations on Sunday, ActBlue has reached $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican’s donation counterpart launched in late 2019, has collected around $4.3 billion, as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm for the surge of contributions, stating on X, formerly known as Twitter, that many donors reported making their first donation in the last 24 hours. “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!” they added.
In the wake of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, the super PAC aligned with Biden, Future Forward, reportedly secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day. Swing Left, which initiated a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, claimed to have raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and confirmed his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also expressed their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most productive fundraising efforts occurred shortly after he faced a significant defeat by former President Donald Trump in a televised debate on June 27, where Biden and his committees amassed approximately $28 million in just one day. Additionally, in the aftermath of Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, whereas Trump and his associated groups garnered $69 million between May 30 and May 31, overwhelming Trump’s campaign website temporarily due to the surge in donations. The affiliated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million during the same month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump organizations collected $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.