Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million from donors via their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, the fundraising platform used by Democratic organizations, recorded this amount over two days, as noted by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, who tracks donations. While this total is not official, it does reflect the fundraising efforts of the group just weeks prior to the required disclosure filings.
On Sunday alone, contributors donated $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The previous high was noted on September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump faced off in their first presidential debate.
With the increase in donations, ActBlue reached a milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform started in late 2019, has collected approximately $4.3 billion as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that many individuals shared they made their first donation in the last 24 hours, expressing enthusiasm about new small-dollar contributors joining the grassroots movement.
Furthermore, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, reportedly secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Additionally, Swing Left, which initiated a fund for the future Democratic nominee, stated that it raised over $160,000 within 24 hours.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, commented that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and promised his backing. Notable Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also shown their support for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most successful fundraising moments occurred after significant events, such as a televised debate defeat against Trump on June 27, during which he and his committees raised about $28 million within a day. After Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and associated groups garnered $69 million between May 30 and May 31, causing a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website. The 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 those supporting Trump raised $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million on hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.