Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform. ActBlue, a political action committee that serves Democratic organizations, reported this amount over just two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. While the total is not official, it reflects the fundraising activity leading up to required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising effort for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous record was set on September 30, 2020, during the first debate between Biden and Trump.
This influx of donations also pushed ActBlue’s fundraising total to $14 billion since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent launched in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue reported a surge in new donations, stating that many contributors made their first donations ever in the last 24 hours, highlighting the growing grassroots engagement.
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in commitments from major donors following Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Additionally, Swing Left raised over $160,000 within a day of the announcement.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign, stating it will be “very well financed.” Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their support.
Previously, Biden achieved significant fundraising success after being challenged by Trump during a televised debate on June 27, raising about $28 million within two days. After Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump’s campaign raised $69 million in a similar timeframe, which briefly caused his website to crash. In total, from April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million, leaving Biden with $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.