Just a day after President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million from donors via their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to supporting Democratic organizations, reported this significant fundraising amount over the past two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer with The Marshall Project. Although this figure is not officially verified—coming from ActBlue’s own donation tracker established in 2004—it offers insight into fundraising trends ahead of the mandatory disclosure period.
On Sunday alone, $66.9 million was donated to the inaugural campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, making it the most lucrative fundraising day for ActBlue during the 2024 election cycle. The second-highest daily total occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s tracker.
With this recent influx of donations, ActBlue has reached a milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that began in late 2019, has garnered approximately $4.3 billion, as reported by OpenSecrets.
In a statement on X, previously known as Twitter, ActBlue highlighted a surge in first-time donors in the previous 24 hours, expressing excitement about the growing grassroots support.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reported gaining $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which has established a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, indicated that it raised over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign, stating it would be “very well financed.” Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their support to Harris.
Biden’s previous high points in fundraising occurred directly after he faced off against Trump in a debate on June 27, where he and his committees raised around $28 million within 24 hours. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and associated groups collected $69 million from May 30 to May 31, causing a brief crash of Trump’s campaign website. The super PAC affiliated with Trump, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups accumulated $332.4 million, compared to $431.2 million raised by pro-Trump organizations, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available, while Trump reported $336.2 million.