Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, the Democratic Party experienced a remarkable surge in fundraising, amassing $100 million from contributors via its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to fundraising for Democratic causes, reported this amount collected over a span of just two days, as indicated by a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While this figure is not yet official since it relies on ActBlue’s donation tracking since its inception in 2004, it offers insight into the group’s fundraising endeavors ahead of required disclosures.
On Sunday, individual donors contributed a substantial $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris as she launched her presidential campaign, marking a record fundraising day for the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. This surpassed previous donation records, including a noteworthy day on September 30, 2020, when Joe Biden and Donald Trump faced off in their first presidential debate, according to Murphy’s data.
With the outpouring of donations on Sunday, ActBlue surpassed a significant milestone, raising $14 billion in total since its establishment two decades ago. By contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent that began its operations in late 2019, has garnered approximately $4.3 billion in donations to date.
ActBlue expressed excitement on social media about the influx of first-time 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!”
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s declaration and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which has launched a fund in support of the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Evercore’s founder Roger Altman publicly endorsed Harris’s campaign, emphasizing that it would be “very well financed.” Notable Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their support for Harris.
Biden’s previous high points in fundraising occurred after his debate defeat against Trump on June 27, which saw him and his committees bring in around $28 million shortly thereafter, according to a New York Times analysis.
Moreover, Biden raised $19.2 million following Trump’s indictment on 34 felony counts, while Trump and affiliated groups collected $69 million in the following day. The influx of donations led to a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website, with the super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. also raising $70 million that month.
Throughout the period from April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups received $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden possessed $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.