Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats raised an impressive $100 million from donors via their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to fundraising for Democratic organizations, reported this significant amount accumulated over a two-day period, as indicated by a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. While the total is unofficial and comes from ActBlue’s ongoing donation record since 2004, it offers an early glimpse into the group’s fundraising performance ahead of mandatory disclosures.
On Sunday alone, supporters donated $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest single fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous high occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s analysis.
This surge in contributions propelled ActBlue’s total fundraising to $14 billion since its establishment two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform initiated in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion, as per OpenSecrets.
In a statement on X, previously Twitter, ActBlue noted, “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!”
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from key supporters shortly after his announcement and endorsement of Harris, according to Politico. Swing Left, which has created a fund to support the eventual Democratic candidate, reported raising over $160,000 in just 24 hours.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and announced his support. Notable Democratic mega-donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their backing to Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most successful fundraising days occurred following impactful moments, such as after his defeat by Trump in a televised debate on June 27, when he and his committees raised about $28 million in the subsequent days. After Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden collected $19.2 million shortly thereafter, while Trump and his supporters raised $69 million within a day following his conviction on May 30, an increase that temporarily overwhelmed Trump’s campaign website. His affiliated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., amassed $70 million that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden organizations garnered $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the close of June, Biden had $281 million in available funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.