Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party saw a significant fundraising boost, amassing $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee and fundraising platform for Democratic organizations, reported this total over the past two days via a live tracker developed by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. Although this figure is unofficial and relies on ActBlue’s extensive tracking of donations since 2004, it highlights the organization’s fundraising success ahead of any required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions reached $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The second-highest fundraising day in recent memory occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and former President Trump.
The influx of donations has helped ActBlue surpass $14 billion in funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, its Republican counterpart that started in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue noted a surge in new donors, with many stating it was their first time contributing in the last 24 hours. They expressed excitement over the growth of grassroots support.
In addition, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which has established a fund backing the future Democratic nominee, reported over $160,000 raised in the same time period.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, remarked that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and pledged his support. Notable Democratic donors, George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
Biden previously experienced fundraising spikes after intense moments in the campaign. Following a televised debate defeat to Trump on June 27, he and his committees raised about $28 million in just two days. Additionally, Biden raised $19.2 million after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, while Trump and his aligned groups raised $69 million in the two days following his conviction, leading to a temporary crash of his campaign website. The super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. also raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million, compared to $431.2 million for pro-Trump groups. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.