Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million from donors through ActBlue, their primary fundraising platform.
According to Ryan Murphy, a developer with The Marshall Project, ActBlue flagged this impressive sum over the past two days via its live tracker. While this total is not officially documented—since it draws from ActBlue’s cumulative donation data since 2004—it paints a clear picture of the group’s fundraising momentum ahead of official disclosures.
On Sunday alone, supporters contributed $66.9 million to kickstart Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. In comparison, the second-highest day occurred on September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump faced off in their first presidential debate.
The strong outpouring of donations on Sunday allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total cash raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent that launched in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion, as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue celebrated the enthusiastic response, stating via X, formerly known as Twitter, that many individuals indicated 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!” the organization added.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which initiated a fund backing the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within just 24 hours.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence on Monday that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and affirmed his support for her. Democratic major donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also extended their backing to Harris.
Previously, Biden experienced significant fundraising success right after being decisively challenged by former President Donald Trump during a televised debate on June 27, raising about $28 million shortly afterward, as per a New York Times analysis.
In the wake of Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliated groups collected $69 million in the 24 hours following his conviction on May 30. This surge momentarily crashed Trump’s campaign website, with his aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., accumulating $70 million that same month.
Between April and June, groups supporting Biden gathered $332.4 million, while those aligned with Trump raised $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.