Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million from donors via its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic organizations, reported this significant fundraising boost over a two-day period, according to a tracker created by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. While this figure is not officially sanctioned and relies on ActBlue’s internal donation records dating back to 2004, it offers a glimpse into the group’s fundraising success ahead of required financial disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to mark the kickoff of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the highest single-day fundraising total for the 2024 election cycle on ActBlue. The previous notable fundraising day was on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s findings.
This surge in donations allowed ActBlue to achieve a remarkable milestone, raising a cumulative total of $14 billion since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising counterpart established in late 2019, has accumulated around $4.3 billion, as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue announced on social media that the last 24 hours saw many individuals making their first-ever donations, highlighting the enthusiasm generated by new grassroots supporters.
Additionally, the Biden-aligned super PAC Future Forward secured $150 million in fresh commitments from major donors within a day of Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris, according to Politico. Swing Left, which has initiated a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, revealed it raised more than $160,000 in just 24 hours.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, remarked on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and expressed his support for her candidacy. Big-ticket donors George and Alex Soros have also shown their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most lucrative fundraising periods occurred after significant events, such as his defeat by Trump in a televised debate on June 27, which netted him about $28 million within a day. Furthermore, Biden raised $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, while Trump’s campaign pulled in $69 million from the day of his conviction through the next day. Trump’s campaign website temporarily crashed due to the influx of donations, and his affiliated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
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 an available $281 million in funds, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.