In the wake of President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not seek re-election, the Democratic Party experienced a significant funding boost, raising $100 million through its primary fundraising platform in just two days.
ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to supporting Democratic initiatives, reported this amount via a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. While this total is based on ActBlue’s internal tracker rather than official filings, it highlights robust fundraising activity ahead of formal disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions reached $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest donation day to date in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous record for donations was set on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With this recent surge, ActBlue has now raised $14 billion since its establishment two decades ago. In contrast, its Republican counterpart WinRed, which began operations in late 2019, has collected approximately $4.3 billion according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm on social media, noting an influx of new small-dollar donors saying many had made their first-ever contributions in the last day. Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, also reported securing $150 million in commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Additionally, the organization Swing Left shared that it raised more than $160,000 within the same 24-hour period.
Roger Altman, the founder of Evercore, indicated his support for Harris’s campaign, stating it would be “very well financed.” Major Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also lent their support to Harris.
Historically, Biden’s strongest fundraising days occurred after notable events, including a debate loss to Trump in June and Trump’s subsequent conviction on felony charges. Biden raised approximately $28 million following the debate and $19.2 million after Trump’s conviction, whereas Trump and his affiliates amassed $69 million in the days following his legal troubles, causing a temporary crash of his campaign website.
Between April and June, pro-Biden groups generated $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups secured $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.