Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million through its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee and fundraising platform for Democratic organizations, reported this impressive figure over the past two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. Although this amount is not official—it’s derived from ActBlue’s own comprehensive donation totals since 2004—it provides insight into the group’s fundraising performance weeks ahead of any required financial disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donations reached $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the most significant fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The second-largest day for contributions was September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump faced off in their first presidential debate, according to Murphy’s tracker.
This surge in donations allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion raised since its establishment two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, its Republican equivalent, has generated approximately $4.3 billion since its inception in late 2019, based on data from OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm over the influx of 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!”
Furthermore, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from significant donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, according to Politico. Additionally, Swing Left, which has set up a fund in support of the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising more than $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, commented on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and declared his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also shown their backing for Harris.
Previously, Biden’s most fruitful fundraising days followed his challenge against former President Donald Trump during a televised debate on June 27, which generated approximately $28 million between that day and June 28, according to a New York Times analysis.
Biden raised an additional $19.2 million after Trump faced 34 felony counts. In a remarkable turn, Trump and his affiliated groups gathered $69 million in the immediate aftermath of his conviction on May 30, leading to a temporary crash of his campaign website. The super PAC aligned with Trump, Make America Great Again Inc., accumulated $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden entities raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups amassed $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in available funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.