Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million from donors through its main fundraising platform, ActBlue. This amount was gathered over the past two days, according to a live tracker created by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. Although the figure is not official, it highlights the fundraising success of the group ahead of mandatory disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million, marking the largest fundraising day for the 2024 cycle. This surpassed previous records, with the second-largest day occurring during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump on September 30, 2020.
Following this surge in donations, ActBlue has now raised a total of $14 billion since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, its Republican counterpart, has raised approximately $4.3 billion since its launch in late 2019.
ActBlue noted a significant increase in first-time donors in the recent days, stating, “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!”
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, announced it secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris. Another group, Swing Left, reported raising over $160,000 in the same time frame.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign financing and pledged his support, while prominent Democratic donors like George and Alex Soros have also backed her.
Biden’s previous successful fundraising efforts were seen after his debate defeat against Trump on June 27, which saw him raise around $28 million in the following days. Biden also garnered $19.2 million after Trump was convicted on multiple felony counts, while Trump and his supporting groups raised $69 million during the same period, causing a temporary crash of his campaign website. In total, between April and June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million. By late June, Biden had $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.