Just a 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 figure was reported by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, who tracks donations in real-time. Although this amount is not officially documented yet, it offers insight into the group’s fundraising success ahead of required financial disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donations amounting to $66.9 million were collected for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign. This marks the highest fundraising day in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue, surpassing the previous high on September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump participated in their first presidential debate.
With the recent surge, ActBlue has now raised a total of $14 billion since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent that started in late 2019, has raised around $4.3 billion, as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed excitement over the influx of new donors, 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!”
Within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from significant donors. Additionally, Swing Left reported over $160,000 raised to support the eventual Democratic nominee within the same period.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated on Monday that he expects Harris’s campaign to be “very well financed” and has pledged his support. Notable Democratic donors, George and Alex Soros, have also expressed their backing for Harris.
Biden previously saw significant fundraising after debates, raising $28 million following a defeat by Trump during a televised debate on June 27. Furthermore, Biden garnered $19.2 million after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts. In contrast, Trump and his associated groups raised $69 million from May 30 to May 31 after his conviction, which temporarily crashed his campaign website. Trump’s aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., also raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump organizations collected $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden held $281 million in cash compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.