In a significant fundraising boost for the Democrats, a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, the party garnered $100 million from donors via its primary fundraising platform, ActBlue. This amount was recorded within a two-day period according to a live tracker maintained by developer Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. While the figure is not yet official, it reflects ActBlue’s totals since its inception in 2004 and provides insight into the group’s fundraising capabilities ahead of mandatory disclosure deadlines.
On Sunday alone, donations reached an impressive $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising total for ActBlue this election cycle. This event outpaced the previous notable fundraising spike recorded on September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump had their first presidential debate.
As a result of Sunday’s contributions, ActBlue has now raised a total of $14 billion since it began operating 20 years ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that was launched in late 2019, has amassed around $4.3 billion according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue announced a surge in first-time donations in the 24 hours following Biden’s announcement, expressing excitement for the influx of new grassroots supporters. Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after his endorsement of Harris. Another group, Swing Left, indicated it raised over $160,000 in just one day to support the eventual Democratic nominee.
On Monday, Evercore founder Roger Altman expressed confidence in Harris’s ability to finance her campaign effectively, confirming his support for her. Notable Democratic donors, George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their backing to Harris.
Previously, Biden had witnessed strong fundraising results immediately after debates with Trump. Following their June 27 debate, Biden and his committees raised approximately $28 million within two days. In comparison, Trump raised $69 million in the lead-up to and after his conviction on 34 felony counts, with his campaign website momentarily crashing due to the overwhelming number of donations.
Between April and June, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump entities collected $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in available funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.