In a remarkable fundraising effort, Democrats have gathered $100 million from donors via ActBlue just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election.
ActBlue, a fundraising platform for Democratic organizations, recorded this amount over just two days, as reported by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. Although this tally is unofficial, it offers insight into the fundraising success ahead of the anticipated disclosure reports.
On Sunday alone, donations totaling $66.9 million were made to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the most significant fundraising day yet for ActBlue in the 2024 electoral cycle. This surpassed previous significant fundraising days, including September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump squared off in their first debate.
The influx of donations pushed ActBlue to a milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago, while WinRed, a Republican fundraising platform established in late 2019, has raised around $4.3 billion, as indicated by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm for the surge in contributions, noting an increase in first-time donors joining the grassroots movement. Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of his announcement and endorsement of Harris, according to Politico. Swing Left, another organization supporting the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign, stating it would be “very well financed,” and highlighted support from prominent donors like George and Alex Soros.
Biden’s most successful fundraising moments previously included raising approximately $28 million in the aftermath of a debate loss to Donald Trump on June 27. Biden also collected $19.2 million after Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, while Trump’s campaign faced a massive influx of donations that momentarily crashed their website following the conviction, with his aligned super PAC raising $70 million that month.
From April through June, pro-Biden groups amassed $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.