Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from donors via ActBlue, their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue reported this significant fundraising achievement over the past two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. While this amount is not official, as it relies on ActBlue’s own tracking system established since 2004, it offers insight into fundraising efforts ahead of mandatory disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donations reached $66.9 million following the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the most successful fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous high occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The surge on Sunday enabled ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform started in late 2019, has amassed approximately $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm about the influx of donations, stating that many contributors were first-time donors joining the grassroots effort. Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which aims to fund the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, affirmed his support for Harris’s campaign, indicating it will be well-financed. Prominent Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also expressed their backing for her candidacy.
In previous fundraising events, Biden’s notable days included raising around $28 million right after a debate defeat against Trump on June 27. Biden also garnered $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, while Trump and his affiliates raised $69 million in the days immediately after this conviction. The rush of donations reportedly led to the temporary crashing of Trump’s campaign website, and his aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., collected $70 million that month.
From April through June, pro-Biden groups brought in $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups raised $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.