Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million through its primary fundraising platform. ActBlue, a political action committee for Democratic organizations, reported this amount over the last two days, according to Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While this figure is not official and reflects ActBlue’s internal tracking since 2004, it offers insight into the group’s fundraising just ahead of required disclosures.
On Sunday, donors contributed $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day total for the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous record was set on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The significant influx of donations on Sunday allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent that began in late 2019, has gathered around $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed excitement about the new contributions, highlighting that many donors reported making their first-ever donations in the past 24 hours. Future Forward, a super PAC that supports Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Similarly, Swing Left announced it raised over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, mentioned on Monday that he believes Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and voiced his support for her candidacy. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, are backing Harris as well.
In the past, Biden’s most substantial fundraising days followed major political events, such as a televised debate loss to Trump on June 27, which generated approximately $28 million in donations. He also raised $19.2 million shortly after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, while Trump’s campaign raised $69 million the day after his conviction, leading to a temporary crash of his campaign website. Additionally, Trump’s aligned PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that same month. Between April and June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million compared to $431.2 million for pro-Trump groups. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds available, while Trump had $336.2 million.