Just a day after President Joe Biden announced that he would not pursue re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million from donors through their primary fundraising platform, ActBlue.
According to Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, the considerable amount was recorded across the previous two days via ActBlue’s live tracker. While this tally is unofficial, as it relies on ActBlue’s own data since its inception in 2004, it highlights the fundraising momentum just weeks ahead of the required financial disclosures.
On Sunday alone, Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign garnered an impressive $66.9 million, marking the largest single-day fundraising total for the 2024 election cycle via ActBlue. This day surpassed the previous record, which occurred on September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump faced off in their first presidential debate.
ActBlue’s recent surge pushed its total cash raised since its founding two decades ago to a staggering $14 billion. In comparison, WinRed, its Republican counterpart established in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
In a statement released on X, formerly known as Twitter, ActBlue expressed excitement about the influx of new donors: “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!”
Moreover, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reportedly secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris. Similarly, Swing Left, which initiated a fund supporting the Democratic nominee, raised over $160,000 in the same time frame.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, commented on Monday that he believes Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and confirmed his support for her. Major Democratic donors, such as George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris.
Historically, Biden has experienced spikes in donations following significant events, including after his debate defeat by Trump on June 27, where he and his committees raised about $28 million. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million in the subsequent days, while Trump and his associated groups raised $69 million within a day of the conviction, briefly overwhelming Trump’s campaign website. In the same month, the super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. raised $70 million.
Between April and June, pro-Biden groups accumulated $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups brought in $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.