Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, the Democratic Party has raised an impressive $100 million from donors through ActBlue, its primary fundraising platform. This information comes from a live tracker operated by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, which follows total donations since 2004. Although the figures are not officially confirmed, they offer insight into the fundraising surge just ahead of upcoming required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the most significant fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The previous record for daily donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s tracker.
With the increase in donations on Sunday, ActBlue surpassed a remarkable $14 billion in funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, its Republican counterpart established in late 2019, has gathered approximately $4.3 billion in donations.
ActBlue shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, that many individuals reported making their first donations in the past 24 hours, expressing enthusiasm about the influx of new small-dollar donors joining the grassroots movement.
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within just a day following his announcement and Harris’s endorsement. Additionally, Swing Left, which established a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same 24-hour period.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated on Monday that he believes Harris’s campaign will be well-financed and has expressed his support for her candidacy. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also thrown their support behind Harris.
Previously, Biden experienced significant fundraising success following being outdebated by Trump in a televised debate on June 27, where he and his committees raised approximately $28 million in the following days. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden collected $19.2 million in subsequent days, while Trump and his associated groups raised $69 million within 24 hours post-conviction, causing a temporary crash of his campaign website. An allied super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump entities collected $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.