Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats successfully garnered $100 million from donors via their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic causes, reported this amount over the last two days using a real-time tracker created by Ryan Murphy, a developer with The Marshall Project. Although this figure is unofficial and reflects ActBlue’s accumulated donations since its inception in 2004, it gives an early glimpse into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of formal disclosure deadlines.
On Sunday, donors contributed $66.9 million for the initiation of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the highest fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous record for daily donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
Following this surge in contributions, ActBlue exceeded $14 billion in total funds raised since its launch two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that began in late 2019, has amassed approximately $4.3 billion, according to data from OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm on social media, stating that many donors were making their first contributions in the wake of Biden’s announcement. “It’s inspiring to see new small-dollar donors joining the grassroots movement!” the organization commented.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, raised $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s declaration and endorsement of Harris, as reported by Politico. Swing Left, which has established a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, also mentioned raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, indicated 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 similarly backed Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most lucrative fundraising days occurred after he faced a notable defeat against former president Trump during a televised debate on June 27. Following that event, Biden and his affiliated committees raised around $28 million from June 27 to June 28. In the aftermath of Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his associated groups secured $69 million in the period from May 30 to May 31, leading to a temporary crash of his campaign website. The pro-Trump super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., also reported raising $70 million that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden organizations collected $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump collectives raked in $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in hand, while Trump had $336.2 million available for their respective campaigns.