Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised an impressive $100 million through ActBlue, their primary fundraising platform. This amount was logged over a two-day period, as reported by developer Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. Although the figure is not officially confirmed and is based on ActBlue’s tracking since 2004, it offers insights into fundraising ahead of required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest fundraising day of the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous record for a single day of donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With the surge of donations on Sunday, ActBlue reached a significant milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform launched in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue reported an influx of new donors, stating that many individuals made their first contributions within the last 24 hours. “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!” the organization said in a statement on social media.
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, received $150 million in new commitments from major contributors within a day of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, as reported by Politico. Additionally, the political group Swing Left announced it raised over $160,000 within the same timeframe to support the eventual Democratic nominee.
Evercore founder Roger Altman expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign, stating it would be “very well financed.” Democratic donors like George and Alex Soros have also shown their support for Harris.
Previously, Biden experienced significant fundraising days following notable events, such as his defeat in a televised debate against former President Donald Trump on June 27, where he and his committees raised about $28 million. Biden also raised $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, while Trump and his associated groups raised $69 million during the same period, causing a temporary crash of his campaign website. The aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., reported raising $70 million that month.
Between April and June, groups supporting Biden raised $332.4 million, whereas those supporting Trump collected $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.