Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform. ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic fundraising efforts, reported this figure over the past two days according to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. Although the total is not formally verified, it offers insights into recent fundraising activities ahead of the upcoming mandatory disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous high for donations was recorded on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With this donation surge, ActBlue has now raised a total of $14 billion since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform established in late 2019, has collected approximately $4.3 billion to date.
ActBlue noted on social media that many contributors mentioned making their first-ever donation in the last 24 hours, highlighting the growing enthusiasm among grassroots supporters.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from significant donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which focuses on supporting the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be well-financed and affirmed his support for her. Democratic benefactors like George and Alex Soros have also shown their backing for Harris.
Previously, Biden’s most successful fundraising days followed his notable defeat by former President Donald Trump during a debate on June 27. Biden and his committees raised around $28 million in the immediate aftermath. Furthermore, Biden raised $19.2 million following Trump’s indictment on 34 felony counts, while Trump and related groups collected $69 million in the days leading to and following his conviction. Trump’s campaign website even experienced a temporary crash due to the influx of donors. During the second quarter of the year, pro-Biden groups accumulated $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups raised $431.2 million, according to reports. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million on hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.