Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from donors through their primary fundraising platform, ActBlue.
According to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project, ActBlue reported this substantial figure over the past two days. Although the tally is unofficial and not part of required disclosures, it gives an early insight into fundraising efforts.
On Sunday alone, contributions flowed in, amounting to $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest single-day fundraising total for the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous record for substantial donations was on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
This surge resulted in ActBlue surpassing $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent launched in late 2019, has gathered approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue reported a notable increase in new donors following Biden’s announcement, stating, “We’ve seen so many folks saying they made their first ever donation in the last 24 hours! It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!”
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from prominent donors within 24 hours of his announcement endorsing Harris. Additionally, Swing Left, which established a fund to support the Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in the financial backing of Harris’s campaign and pledged his support. Prominent Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also endorsed her.
Biden previously had successful fundraising days following significant events, such as the aftermath of his debate defeat to Trump in June, during which he raised about $28 million. After Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million shortly thereafter, while Trump and his affiliates collected $69 million in the following days.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million against $431.2 million for pro-Trump groups. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.