Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee and fundraising tool for Democratic organizations, logged this amount over the last two days, as reported by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While this figure is not officially confirmed—it is derived from ActBlue’s comprehensive donation tracking since 2004—it offers insights into the organization’s fundraising performance ahead of upcoming disclosure deadlines.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed an impressive $66.9 million to launch Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising total for the 2024 cycle on ActBlue. The previous record for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s tracker.
The recent surge in donations enabled ActBlue to surpass a remarkable $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent that began operations in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed excitement about the influx of new contributors, 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 within 24 hours following Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, an organization supporting the eventual Democratic nominee, claimed to have raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign financing, vowing his support. Prominent Democratic donors such as George and Alex Soros have also backed Harris.
Historically, Biden’s strongest fundraising days followed his defeat against Trump during a televised debate on June 27, leading to approximately $28 million raised between June 27 and 28, as per a New York Times analysis. Biden also secured $19.2 million in the aftermath of Trump being convicted on 34 felony counts, while Trump and affiliated groups raised $69 million from May 30 to May 31 due to a surge in donations that temporarily crashed his campaign website.
In the period from April to June, pro-Biden groups accumulated $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups raised $431.2 million, reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.