Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not be running for re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee and fundraising platform for Democratic organizations, reported this sum over a two-day period, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. Although this figure is not officially verified and comes from ActBlue’s own tracker that has monitored donations since 2004, it offers insight into the organization’s fundraising efforts ahead of any mandated disclosures.
On Sunday, contributors gave $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest single fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The previous record for daily donations was set on September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump faced off in their first presidential debate.
The boost in donations on Sunday enabled ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception nearly two decades ago. Its Republican counterpart, WinRed, which began operations in late 2019, has collected about $4.3 billion in donations, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue noted a significant increase in new 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!”
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reported receiving $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after his announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which established a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, indicated that it raised over $160,000 within 24 hours.
Evercore founder Roger Altman expressed confidence on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and affirmed his commitment to her candidacy. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown support for Harris.
Biden’s most successful fundraising periods have previously occurred immediately after significant events, such as following a debate in which he was criticized by Trump. His campaign raised around $28 million between June 27 and 28 following that debate, according to a New York Times analysis.
In the days after Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts, Biden’s campaign raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliated groups garnered $69 million from May 30 to May 31. The surge in donations during that period even caused a temporary shutdown of Trump’s campaign website. His associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million during that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $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.