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. This amount was recorded over two days, as noted by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, using a live tracker. While the figure is not officially verified, it reflects the fundraising momentum just weeks prior to required disclosure filings.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed an impressive $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking a record day for fundraising in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. This surpasses the previous record set on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
Thanks to the surge in donations, ActBlue has now raised a total of $14 billion since its establishment two decades ago. In contrast, its Republican counterpart, WinRed, which began collecting funds in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue celebrated the influx of new donors, noting in a statement on social media that many individuals made their first contributions in the past 24 hours, which they described as motivating for the grassroots movement.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, raised $150 million in new commitments shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, according to Politico. Swing Left, which has initiated a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within a day of the announcement.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed support for Harris’s campaign on Monday, stating it would be “very well financed.” Notable Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their support for her candidacy.
Previously, Biden experienced significant fundraising success following a defeat in a televised debate against Trump on June 27, raising about $28 million in the subsequent days. He also secured $19.2 million after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, while Trump’s campaign raised $69 million in the days following his conviction. This influx of support briefly caused Trump’s campaign website to crash. Additionally, the aligned 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 brought in $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million on hand in comparison to Trump’s $336.2 million.