Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million from donors through ActBlue, its primary fundraising platform. This amount was gathered over a two-day period, according to a live tracker by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. While the figure is not officially verified, it offers a glimpse into the fundraising efforts ahead of required disclosures.
On the previous Sunday, donations surged to $66.9 million following the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest single-day fundraising total for the 2024 election cycle via ActBlue. The second-highest day for contributions in recent history occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, as reported by Murphy’s tracker.
With the influx of donations on Sunday, ActBlue surpassed a significant milestone, reaching $14 billion in total funds raised since its establishment two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the fundraising platform for Republicans that started in late 2019, has garnered approximately $4.3 billion over its operational period.
ActBlue noted a noteworthy trend, stating, “We’ve seen so many folks saying they made their first ever donation in the last 24 hours!” on X, formerly Twitter. This reflects the organization’s success in engaging new grassroots donors.
Moreover, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reported securing $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours following Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. The group Swing Left, which supports the eventual Democratic nominee, indicated it raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed support for Harris’s campaign, indicating it would be “very well financed.” Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also extended their backing to Harris.
In Biden’s fundraising history, some of his most successful days have come directly after competitions with Trump. For instance, after a televised debate on June 27, Biden and his supporting committees raised approximately $28 million over two days. Furthermore, Biden collected $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, while Trump’s related groups raised $69 million within a day of his conviction on May 30. Trump’s campaign experienced such a surge that it briefly crashed his website, and his associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, groups supporting Biden raised $332.4 million, while those backing Trump received $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in available funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.