Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from donors through their primary fundraising platform. ActBlue, the political action committee and fundraising platform for Democratic groups, recorded this amount over the past two days according to a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. Although the figures are not officially verified, they offer insight into the group’s fundraising success ahead of required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign launch, marking the largest fundraising day in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous highest day for donations was on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With the recent surge, ActBlue has reached $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. Conversely, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that launched in late 2019, has gathered approximately $4.3 billion in donations as per OpenSecrets.
ActBlue noted a significant number of new small-dollar donors, stating that many made their first contributions in the last 24 hours, highlighting a growing grassroots movement. Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day following Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, a group aimed at supporting the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign, stating that it will be “very well financed” and confirmed his support. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris.
In the past, Biden’s strongest fundraising days occurred after being challenged by Trump during a televised debate, where he raised approximately $28 million in just two days. After Trump faced conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden gathered $19.2 million in the following days, while Trump and his supporters raised $69 million during the same period. Overall, between April and June, pro-Biden groups amassed $332.4 million, compared to $431.2 million for pro-Trump groups, with Biden holding $281 million to Trump’s $336.2 million by the end of June.