Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform, ActBlue. This total was gathered over two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While the figures are not official, they reflect donations made since ActBlue’s inception in 2004, giving insight into the organization’s fundraising performance ahead of required financial disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donations amounted to $66.9 million for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking a record fundraising day in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous high was during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump on September 30, 2020.
As a result of this donation spike on Sunday, ActBlue surpassed $14 billion in funds raised since its launch two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform established in late 2019, has collected around $4.3 billion so far, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue noted the surge in donations, stating that many donors reported making their first contributions within the last 24 hours, highlighting the growing grassroots support.
The super PAC Future Forward, which is aligned with Biden, raised $150 million in new commitments shortly after his announcement and endorsement of Harris. Additionally, Swing Left, which has established a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within 24 hours.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign, stating it would be “very well financed.” Major Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also expressed their support for her.
Historically, Biden’s most significant fundraising days have followed major political events, such as after his defeat by Donald Trump in a debate on June 27, when he and his committees raised about $28 million. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump’s campaign and affiliated groups garnered $69 million during that same timeframe, briefly overwhelming Trump’s campaign website.
Overall, from April to June, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million, compared to the $431.2 million collected by pro-Trump groups. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds on hand, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.