Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform. ActBlue, the political action committee serving Democratic organizations, noted the fundraising achievement over a two-day period, according to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. Although this figure is unofficial, as it comes from ActBlue’s tracking system established since 2004, it offers insights into the fundraising activities just weeks ahead of mandatory disclosures.
On Sunday, donors contributed $66.9 million to the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the highest single-day fundraising total for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. This eclipsed the previous most lucrative day for donations, which occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The surge in donations enabled ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, its Republican counterpart, WinRed, which started in late 2019, has garnered approximately $4.3 billion according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue highlighted the influx of new donors, stating, “We’ve seen so many folks saying they made their first ever donation in the last 24 hours! It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!”
In addition, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured commitments totaling $150 million from major donors within 24 hours of his announcement and Harris’s endorsement. Swing Left, which initiated a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same time frame.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed strong support for Harris, noting that her campaign would be “very well financed.” Democratic mega-donors George and Alex Soros have also pledged their backing to her.
Historically, Biden’s fundraising peaked following his defeat by Trump during a televised debate on June 27, when he and his committees raised about $28 million in just over a day. He raised an additional $19.2 million after Trump faced 34 felony charges, with Trump and his affiliates collecting $69 million in the days following his conviction. The surge of donations briefly crashed Trump’s campaign website, while his aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that same month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million compared to $431.2 million for pro-Trump groups, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in his campaign account, while Trump had $336.2 million.