Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats managed to raise $100 million from donors via their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to supporting Democratic causes, reported this figure over the past two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer affiliated with The Marshall Project. While this total is not officially recognized and is derived from ActBlue’s extensive donation tracker established in 2004, it offers insight into the fundraising capacity of Democratic organizations just ahead of any mandated disclosures.
On Sunday, alone, contributions amounted to $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single fundraising day for the 2024 election cycle on ActBlue’s platform. The previous record for daily donations was set on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate featuring Biden and Trump.
As a result of the surge in donations over the weekend, ActBlue reached a milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, a similar platform for Republicans established towards the end of 2019, has collected around $4.3 billion according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue noted in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that many individuals had made their first-ever donations in the last 24 hours, highlighting the influx of new small-dollar donors joining the grassroots movement.
Additionally, the super PAC Future Forward, aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in commitments from major donors within a day following Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which has initiated a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within a similar timeframe.
Roger Altman, the founder of Evercore, expressed strong support for Harris’s campaign, predicting it would be “very well financed.” Notable Democratic mega-donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their support for her.
Previously, Biden experienced significant fundraising days following his loss to former President Trump during a televised debate on June 27. Biden and his affiliated committees raised approximately $28 million within a day after the debate, as per a New York Times analysis.
In the days following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his associated groups garnered $69 million from May 30 to May 31. The surge in donations briefly overwhelmed Trump’s campaign website, while the super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. raised $70 million that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden entities accumulated $332.4 million, compared to the $431.2 million raised by pro-Trump groups. By the end of June, Biden was reported to have $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.