A day after President Joe Biden announced he would not be running for re-election, Democrats secured $100 million through their primary fundraising platform. ActBlue, a political action committee that facilitates fundraising for Democratic organizations, tracked this amount over a two-day period, as reported by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. While the figure is not officially verified, it provides insight into the fundraising landscape ahead of the required financial disclosures.
On just Sunday, donors raised $66.9 million for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the most significant fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The previous high for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The recent influx of contributions pushed ActBlue’s total fundraising since its inception to $14 billion. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform launched in late 2019, has amassed around $4.3 billion.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm about the recent donations on social media, noting a surge of first-time contributors. Following Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris, the Biden-aligned super PAC Future Forward reported receiving $150 million in new commitments from significant donors. Additionally, the group Swing Left disclosed it raised over $160,000 within the same 24-hour timeframe.
Evercore founder Roger Altman stated on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and affirmed his support. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
In previous months, Biden experienced strong fundraising in reaction to high-profile events, raising about $28 million shortly after a debate defeat against Trump and $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on multiple felony counts. Trump and his aligned groups raised $69 million within days of his conviction, leading to a temporary crash of his campaign website due to the influx of donations. In total, from April to June, pro-Biden groups garnered $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups raised $431.2 million, leaving Biden with $281 million compared to Trump’s $336.2 million by the end of June.