Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats generated $100 million from donors through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic initiatives, logged this amount over the last two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While the total is not officially confirmed, it is derived from ActBlue’s extensive record of donations since its inception in 2004, giving insight into the group’s fundraising success ahead of formal disclosures.
On Sunday, donations surged to $66.9 million following the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the most significant fundraising day of the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous highest single-day donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
This recent influx enabled ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its founding two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican counterpart that began operations in late 2019, has generated approximately $4.3 billion to date.
ActBlue expressed excitement over the recent surge, noting a significant number of first-time donors getting involved in the grassroots movement via a statement on social media.
Following Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris, the super PAC Future Forward secured $150 million in commitments from major donors within a day. Additionally, Swing Left reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe to support the eventual Democratic nominee.
Roger Altman, the founder of Evercore, stated that Harris’s campaign is poised for strong financial backing, also highlighting support from prominent Democratic donors like George and Alex Soros.
Historically, Biden’s most successful fundraising days followed significant events, such as after he faced off against Trump in a debate on June 27, where he and his committees raised around $28 million within a day. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony charges, Biden raised $19.2 million in the ensuing days, while Trump’s campaign experienced a flood of donations that temporarily overwhelmed their website.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups collected $332.4 million against $431.2 million raised by pro-Trump factions. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in available funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.