Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, the Democratic Party successfully raised $100 million from supporters through its primary fundraising platform, ActBlue.
The political action committee recorded this impressive sum over the past two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While this tally is unofficial—relying on ActBlue’s own ongoing calculations since its inception in 2004—it gives a preview of the group’s fundraising effectiveness ahead of any forthcoming disclosure reports.
On Sunday alone, contributions reached $66.9 million upon the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the most lucrative day for fundraising in the 2024 election cycle via ActBlue. The second-highest fundraising day in recent times was observed on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
This surge in donations propelled ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised over the last two decades. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican counterpart that began operations in late 2019, has collected around $4.3 billion according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue reported on social media that many new donors had made their first contributions in the last 24 hours, expressing enthusiasm about the influx of grassroots support.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major contributors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which has initiated a fund in support of the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and indicated his support. Notable Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also expressed their backing for Harris.
In the past, Biden experienced significant fundraising spikes following debates with Trump, including raising around $28 million shortly after being defeated in a televised debate on June 27. Subsequently, Biden raised $19.2 million in the days following Trump’s indictment on 34 felony counts, while Trump’s campaign reported raising $69 million from May 30 to May 31, causing a temporary crash of his campaign website. Trump’s aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised an impressive $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden organizations amassed $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in cash reserves, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.