Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he will not seek re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million from donors via its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that facilitates fundraising for Democratic organizations, reported this significant amount over the past two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While this figure is not officially verified—being drawn from ActBlue’s ongoing donation records since 2004—it provides insights into the group’s fundraising success before any mandated disclosures are released.
On Sunday alone, donations reached $66.9 million for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign launch, marking the largest fundraising day for the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous high occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The recent surge in donations enabled ActBlue to reach a total of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, its Republican equivalent, WinRed, which started in late 2019, has accumulated around $4.3 billion according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue shared an encouraging message on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “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!”
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from significant donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, as reported by Politico. Additionally, Swing Left, which launched a support fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, announced it raised over $160,000 within 24 hours.
Evercore founder Roger Altman expressed confidence on Monday that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and pledged his assistance. Notable Democratic donors, George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris.
Previously, Biden experienced substantial fundraising days following his defeat against Trump during a televised debate on June 27, when his committees raised approximately $28 million in the aftermath. He also garnered $19.2 million after Trump was indicted on 34 felony counts. Conversely, Trump and his affiliated groups raised $69 million in the immediate aftermath of his indictment from May 30 to May 31, causing a brief crash of his campaign website. His aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that same month.
From April to June, pro-Biden organizations amassed $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $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.