Following President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not seek re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million from donors through ActBlue, their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee aimed at supporting Democratic initiatives, reported this impressive fundraising total over the past two days, as indicated by a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. While this figure is unofficial and drawn from ActBlue’s aggregate donation data since 2004, it highlights the significant fundraising success the group has experienced ahead of mandatory disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions soared to $66.9 million in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. For comparison, the second-highest total occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The surge in donations allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that began in late 2019, has gathered about $4.3 billion to date.
ActBlue announced on X, formerly Twitter, that many donors reported making their initial contributions within the past 24 hours, which they described as a motivating boost for the grassroots movement.
Additionally, within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, Future Forward, a pro-Biden super PAC, secured $150 million in new commitments from significant donors. Swing Left, which was established to support the eventual Democratic nominee, revealed it raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Evercore founder Roger Altman expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign, stating it would be “very well financed,” and announced his support. Democratic benefactors George and Alex Soros have also publicly endorsed Harris.
Previously, Biden’s fundraising peaks were recorded after his notable defeats during debates with Trump. For instance, between June 27 and June 28, following a debate loss, Biden and his committees raised approximately $28 million. Additionally, he garnered $19.2 million after Trump faced 34 felony counts. Trump and his affiliated groups raised $69 million between May 30 and May 31, causing a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website. The super PAC aligned with him, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that same month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups generated $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in hand, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.