Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats managed to raise $100 million from donors through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee designed to aid Democratic fundraising efforts, recorded this impressive sum over just two days, according to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. While the figures are not officially verified and stem from ActBlue’s own extensive record of donations since 2004, they offer insight into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions amounted to $66.9 million for the kickoff of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking a record fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous high for daily donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
As a result of the surge in donations on Sunday, ActBlue reached a milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, its Republican counterpart established in late 2019, has collected about $4.3 billion to date, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue reported seeing a significant number of first-time donors joining their grassroots movement in the wake of Biden’s announcement. Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day following Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris. Additionally, Swing Left, an organization supporting the future Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within 24 hours.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence that Harris’s campaign will be financially robust and has pledged his support. Prominent Democratic donors George and Alex Soros are also backing her candidacy.
Previously, Biden’s most successful fundraising periods occurred immediately after he was defeated by Trump in a televised debate on June 27, when he and his committees raised approximately $28 million in the following days. After Trump was convicted on multiple felony charges, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliated groups gathered $69 million from the day of his conviction to the following day. This influx of donations briefly caused a crash on Trump’s campaign website, and his aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million compared to $431.2 million for pro-Trump groups. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds available, while Trump had $336.2 million.