Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats raised $100 million through ActBlue, their main fundraising platform. The figure was reported over the course of two days by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, using a live tracker maintained to monitor total donations since 2004. While not an official tally, it offers insight into the group’s financial activities ahead of required disclosures.
On Sunday, contributions soared to $66.9 million for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign launch, marking the largest fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous top day for contributions occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
As a result of this spike, ActBlue has now raised a total of $14 billion since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, its Republican counterpart that began in late 2019, has raised roughly $4.3 billion.
ActBlue reported an influx of first-time donors, expressing excitement over the grassroots movement’s growth via a statement on X, formerly Twitter. Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, raised $150 million from major donors within 24 hours following Biden’s endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which is backing the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, voiced strong financial support for Harris’s campaign on Monday, adding that it would be “very well financed.” Democratic billionaires George and Alex Soros have also pledged their support to her campaign.
Notably, Biden previously saw significant fundraising boosts after major events, such as raising about $28 million following a televised debate against Trump on June 27, and $19.2 million after Trump was convicted on felony charges. In contrast, Trump and his affiliated organizations raised $69 million immediately following his conviction, with one super PAC raising $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups accrued $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups brought in $431.2 million, according to reports. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in cash on hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.