In the wake of President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not run for re-election, Democratic fundraising efforts saw a significant boost, with $100 million raised through ActBlue, a key fundraising platform for Democratic organizations. This impressive sum was gathered over the course of just two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. This tracking mechanism, though unofficial and based on historical data since 2004, offers insights into the party’s recent fundraising success ahead of formal disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed nearly $66.9 million towards the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the strongest fundraising day for ActBlue in the ongoing 2024 election cycle. The previous record for a single day of donations happened on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With the recent influx of contributions, ActBlue has reported reaching a significant milestone of $14 billion in total assistance raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent of ActBlue, has garnered approximately $4.3 billion since its launch in late 2019.
ActBlue noted a surge 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!”
In addition to grassroots fundraising, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, received commitments of $150 million from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which has initiated support for the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same 24-hour period.
Evercore founder Roger Altman expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign, predicting it would be “very well financed” and pledging his support. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris.
Historically, Biden has seen spikes in fundraising following high-profile political events. For instance, after being challenged by Trump during a televised debate on June 27, Biden and his associates raised around $28 million in just over 24 hours. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony charges, Biden raised $19.2 million in the days thereafter, while Trump and his affiliates collected $69 million in the immediate aftermath.
Between April and June, groups supporting Biden raised $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump organizations brought in $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in campaign funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.