Just a day after President Joe Biden announced that he would not pursue re-election, Democrats collected $100 million from contributions through its primary fundraising platform.
According to a live tracker kept by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project, ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic groups, reported this financial achievement over a two-day period. While this figure is unofficial and based on ActBlue’s own extensive donation records since 2004, it gives insight into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of any required financial disclosures.
On the preceding Sunday alone, contributions totaled $66.9 million for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign launch, making it the most successful fundraising day of the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous record for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to the tracker.
This influx of donations allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent that began receiving contributions in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion, as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue highlighted the enthusiasm 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!”
Additionally, 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. Swing Left also reported raising more than $160,000 in the same time frame.
On Monday, Evercore founder Roger Altman expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign and assured his financial backing. High-profile Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their support for her candidacy.
Previously, Biden’s most successful fundraising days followed intense moments, such as after his significant loss to Trump in a debate on June 27, which brought in about $28 million in the following days, according to a New York Times analysis. He also raised $19.2 million shortly after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts. Trump’s campaign website experienced temporary downtime due to a surge of donations that came in after the conviction, resulting in an impressive $69 million for Trump from May 30 to May 31. Additionally, an aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million in the same month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden organizations garnered $332.4 million, while those supporting Trump collected $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.