Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million from donors via its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee supporting Democratic initiatives, reported the impressive total gathered over the last two days, according to a live tracker by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. While the figure is not official, as it derives from ActBlue’s comprehensive donation reports since its inception in 2004, it gives an early indication of fundraising success before formal disclosures are submitted.
On Sunday alone, contributors donated $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the highest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The second-largest fundraising day in recent memory was September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump faced off in their first presidential debate.
The significant donations allowed ActBlue to reach a milestone of $14 billion raised over two decades. In comparison, WinRed, the fundraising platform for Republicans that launched in late 2019, has raised around $4.3 billion since its establishment.
ActBlue shared its enthusiasm on social media, noting the influx of first-time donations in the wake of Biden’s announcement. “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!” the organization stated.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, garnered $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and Harris’s endorsement. Swing Left, which has initiated a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and indicated his support. Prominent Democratic donors, George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
Previously, Biden’s peak days of fundraising came shortly after a debate loss to Trump on June 27, resulting in approximately $28 million raised between that day and June 28. Following Trump’s indictment on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million in the subsequent days. Meanwhile, Trump and his affiliated groups amassed $69 million from May 30 to May 31, causing a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website. The associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that same month.
From April to June, groups supporting Biden collected $332.4 million, while those backing Trump raised $431.2 million. At the end of June, Biden had $281 million available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.