Just one day after President Joe Biden announced that he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, which serves as a political action committee and fundraising platform for Democratic organizations, recorded the significant amount over the last two days, as noted by a live tracker from Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. Although this figure is not officially verified and relies on ActBlue’s extensive tracker of total donations since its inception, it offers insight into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of any formal disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest fundraising day for the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. This surpassed the previous high, which occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s tracker.
With the influx of donations on Sunday, ActBlue reached a milestone of $14 billion in funds raised since its establishment two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that began in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion since its launch, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm over the recent donations, stating on X, formerly Twitter, that many individuals were making their first donations within the past 24 hours. They highlighted the excitement of welcoming new small-dollar donors to their grassroots efforts.
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reportedly received $150 million from significant donors within a day of Biden’s announcement and Harris’s endorsement. Swing Left, which set up a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, claimed to have raised over $160,000 in just 24 hours.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, noted on Monday that Harris’s campaign is expected to be “very well financed” and declared his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also voiced their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s strongest fundraising days followed major events, such as the aftermath of his televised debate against Trump on June 27, when he and his committees raised about $28 million in just a day. He also garnered $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts. Meanwhile, Trump and his affiliates raised $69 million from May 30 to May 31 after the conviction, leading to a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website. An associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million during that month.
Between April and June, groups supporting Biden raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden held $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.