Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from donors through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to Democratic fundraising, reported this amount over a two-day period, according to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. Although this figure is unofficial — derived from ActBlue’s extensive donation records since 2004 — it offers insight into the group’s fundraising achievements ahead of required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions totaled $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest single-day fundraising total for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous record for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s tracker.
With the boost in donations, ActBlue has now raised $14 billion since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising counterpart established in late 2019, has collected around $4.3 billion, as per OpenSecrets data.
ActBlue commented on the influx of donations via a statement on X, previously known as Twitter, stating they had seen many first-time donors contributing in the past 24 hours. “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!” they expressed.
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reported securing $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours following Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Additionally, Swing Left, which was formed to support the eventual Democratic nominee, indicated it raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, mentioned on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and expressed his support for her candidacy. Prominent Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also endorsed Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most significant fundraising days have occurred right after competitive encounters with Trump. Following a debate against Trump on June 27, Biden raised about $28 million within a day. Furthermore, he garnered $19.2 million after Trump was charged with 34 felony counts. On the other hand, Trump and his affiliates raised $69 million in the two days following his conviction, coincidentally causing a temporary crash of his campaign website. The super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., also amassed $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups collected $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups received $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.