Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a fundraising platform and political action committee for Democratic entities, reported this amount over a span of two days, according to a live tracker from Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While this figure is unofficial and based on ActBlue’s historical donation data since 2004, it offers insights into the group’s fundraising progress before the upcoming official disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions reached $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the most significant fundraising day in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The second highest was recorded on September 30, 2020, following the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The surge in donations allowed ActBlue to reach a milestone of $14 billion raised since its establishment two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the equivalent platform for Republican fundraising, has gathered approximately $4.3 billion since its start in late 2019.
ActBlue reported a wave of first-time donors, stating, “We’ve seen so many folks saying 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!”
Following Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, the super PAC Future Forward secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours. Additionally, Swing Left shared that it raised over $160,000 for the future Democratic nominee in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s financing, stating that her campaign will be “very well financed.” Notable Democratic benefactors, George and Alex Soros, have also shown their support for her candidacy.
Previously, Biden experienced funding boosts after significant events, including when he raised about $28 million following a debate defeat to Trump on June 27. Biden garnered $19.2 million after Trump faced 34 felony counts, while Trump and his affiliated groups raised $69 million from May 30 to May 31, causing a temporary crash of his campaign website. Furthermore, an aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups collected $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups amassed $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.