Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million through their main fundraising platform, ActBlue.
According to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project, this impressive figure was gathered over a two-day period. While the tracker does not represent official totals, it gives insight into fundraising achievements prior to the required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donations reached $66.9 million to mark the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the largest fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 cycle. This surpassed previous high points, such as September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump participated in their first presidential debate.
With the influx of donations on Sunday, ActBlue has now raised a total of $14 billion since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, a similar platform for Republicans that began in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion.
In a Monday statement on X (formerly Twitter), ActBlue expressed excitement over the participation of new donors, noting that many reported making their first donation in the past 24 hours.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, as reported by Politico. Swing Left, which was established to support the eventual Democratic nominee, indicated that it raised over $160,000 within a day of this news.
Roger Altman, the founder of Evercore, stated on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and pledged his support. Notable Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris.
Previously, Biden saw significant fundraising success following a televised debate against Trump on June 27, where his campaign raised around $28 million in a day. Following Trump’s conviction on felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million in the ensuing days, while Trump and his affiliates reported raising $69 million in that same timeframe. In May, Trump’s campaign website briefly crashed due to the surge in donations after his conviction, and an aligned super PAC raised $70 million that month.
Overall, from April to June, pro-Biden groups accumulated $332.4 million in funds, whereas pro-Trump groups raised $431.2 million, leading to Biden having $281 million cash on hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million by the end of June.