Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from donors through ActBlue, their primary fundraising platform.
According to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project, the $100 million was recorded within just two days. While this figure is not an official tally, it offers a glimpse into the fundraising performance of the group ahead of the upcoming required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking a record fundraising day for the 2024 cycle on ActBlue. The second-highest daily total occurred on September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump faced off in their first presidential debate.
Following this surge, ActBlue reached a total of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising counterpart established in late 2019, has accumulated about $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue highlighted the response to Harris’s campaign announcement, stating on X, previously known as Twitter, that many individuals reported making their first-ever donations within the last 24 hours. The group expressed enthusiasm about the influx of new small-dollar donors joining the grassroots effort.
In the wake of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, the Biden-aligned super PAC Future Forward secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours, as reported by Politico. Swing Left, which initiated a fund to support the future Democratic nominee, indicated it raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, noted on Monday that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and pledged his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also expressed their support for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s fundraising peaks occurred after significant political events, including a notable $28 million raised immediately after a televised debate defeat to Trump on June 27. Biden also raised $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on multiple felony counts. In contrast, Trump and his affiliated groups pulled in $69 million in the days around his conviction, which led to temporary server issues on his campaign website. An aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups reported $431.2 million in donations, as noted by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in his campaign coffers compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.