Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised an impressive $100 million from donors through ActBlue, their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to supporting Democratic initiatives, reported this significant figure over a span of two days, according to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. Although these numbers are unofficial and based on ActBlue’s comprehensive donation tracker since its inception in 2004, they offer insight into the fundraising performance ahead of mandatory disclosure deadlines.
On a remarkable Sunday, contributors donated $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential bid, marking the largest single-day fundraising event for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. This surpassed the second-best daily performance, which occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With the surge in donations, ActBlue celebrated surpassing $14 billion in total funds raised since its establishment twenty years ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform launched in late 2019, has accumulated approximately $4.3 billion in donations, as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue shared a message on X (formerly known as Twitter), reflecting on the wave of new small-dollar donors: “We’ve seen so many folks saying they made their first ever donation in the last 24 hours! It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!”
In addition, Future Forward, a super PAC supportive of Biden, garnered $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day following Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, according to Politico. Swing Left, which initiated a fund supporting the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same 24-hour period.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and confirmed his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors, such as George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most successful fundraising days occurred shortly after he faced significant challenges during a June televised debate against Trump, raising about $28 million in one day. Following Trump’s recent legal troubles, Biden raised $19.2 million shortly after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, while Trump and his aligned groups raised $69 million in just two days following the conviction. The rush of donations briefly crashed Trump’s campaign website, and his associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden organizations collected $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups raised $431.2 million, as noted by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden reported having $281 million available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.