Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million through its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to fundraising for Democratic initiatives, reported this figure over two days, according to a tracker managed by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. While the tally is unofficial and drawn from ActBlue’s historical data since 2004, it highlights the fundraising activity ahead of scheduled financial disclosures.
On Sunday, donors contributed an impressive $66.9 million to launch Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking it as the highest single-day fundraising total for ActBlue in the current election cycle. The previous record for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Donald Trump.
This spike in donations on Sunday allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, a fundraising platform for Republicans that started in late 2019, has raised around $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue commented on the surge in contributions via a statement posted on social media, noting, “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 a day of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which has initiated a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign, asserting that it would be “very well financed” while also announcing his support. Prominent Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also shown backing for Harris.
Previously, Biden’s most successful fundraising days followed his defeat by Trump in a debate on June 27, during which he and his committees raised approximately $28 million. After Trump faced 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million in the days following the conviction, while Trump and his affiliated groups amassed $69 million in the 24-hour period immediately after the conviction on May 30. Trump’s campaign website temporarily crashed due to the influx of donations. An associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that same month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups collected $332.4 million, while their pro-Trump counterparts raised $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in cash available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.