Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from donors using ActBlue, their primary fundraising platform. This amount was reported over a two-day period, according to a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. While not an official count, the tally reflects ActBlue’s fundraising efforts in advance of any mandatory disclosure filings.
On Sunday alone, contributors donated $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the largest fundraising day of the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous record was set on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
This surge in donations allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that started in late 2019, has raised around $4.3 billion, as reported by OpenSecrets.
“We’ve seen so many people saying they made their first donation in the last 24 hours!” ActBlue stated on social media. “It’s incredibly encouraging to see new small-dollar donors joining the grassroots movement!”
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, received $150 million in new commitments from major donors within just 24 hours following Biden’s announcement and Harris’s endorsement, according to Politico. Swing Left, which created a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed on Monday that Harris’s campaign is likely to be “very well financed” and confirmed his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also backed Harris.
Previously, Biden’s strongest fundraising days occurred after his significant debate loss to Donald Trump on June 27, when he and his committees raised approximately $28 million between that date and the following day. He also garnered $19.2 million in the aftermath of Trump’s conviction on 34 felony charges. Trump’s campaign raised $69 million from May 30 to May 31, shortly after his conviction, which notably caused a temporary crash of his campaign website. Trump’s associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups generated $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups amassed $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in cash on hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.