Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from donors via their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to Democratic fundraising, reported this amount over the previous two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. Although this total is not official and is based on ActBlue’s donation tracker since its inception in 2004, it offers insight into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of upcoming official disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donations fueled the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, amassing $66.9 million and marking the highest fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The second-best day for donations recently occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
Due to the surge of donations on Sunday, ActBlue reached a significant milestone, surpassing $14 billion in total funds raised since its establishment two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that began in late 2019, has garnered approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue indicated on X (formerly Twitter) that many contributors mentioned making their first donations during this period. “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!” the organization stated.
Shortly after Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours. Additionally, Swing Left reported raising over $160,000 in support of the eventual Democratic nominee within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, the founder of Evercore, expressed on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed,” announcing his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also pledged their backing to Harris.
Historically, Biden has witnessed significant fundraising boosts following debates. Notably, he raised about $28 million after a televised debate defeat to Trump on June 27, as analyzed by The New York Times. Additionally, Biden collected $19.2 million in the aftermath of Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts. In contrast, Trump and his affiliated groups raised $69 million from May 30 to May 31 following his conviction, temporarily overwhelming Trump’s campaign website. During that month, the super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. raised $70 million.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups amassed $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million on hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.