Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that facilitates fundraising for Democratic organizations, reported this figure over the past two days, as tracked by developer Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. Although the total is not yet official, it reflects the fundraising activity prior to formal disclosures being required.
On Sunday alone, a remarkable $66.9 million was raised for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the most significant fundraising day of the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous record was set on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With this influx of donations, ActBlue has now surpassed $14 billion in funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, a fundraising platform for Republicans that started in late 2019, has gathered approximately $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
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!”
Furthermore, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, raised $150 million in new commitments from major contributors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. The organization Swing Left reported raising over $160,000 within 24 hours of the announcement.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed on Monday that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and confirmed his support. Notable Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also backed Harris.
Biden previously experienced significant fundraising spikes after being decisively defeated in a debate against former President Donald Trump on June 27, where he and his committees raised approximately $28 million within two days. Additionally, he raised $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, while Trump and affiliated groups garnered $69 million in the immediate aftermath of the conviction on May 30.
During the period from April to June, pro-Biden organizations collected $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups received $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden’s campaign held $281 million in resources, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.