Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million from donors through ActBlue, its primary fundraising platform.
According to a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project, this impressive amount was collected within the past two days. Although the figures are not yet official, as they are based on ActBlue’s extensive donation records since 2004, they shed light on the fundraising momentum in the lead-up to formal disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions surged to $66.9 million for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest fundraising day for ActBlue in the lead-up to the 2024 elections. This surpasses a record set on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, which was the second-best day for donations.
With this influx of donations, ActBlue officially surpassed $14 billion in total funds raised since its establishment two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform launched in late 2019, has gathered approximately $4.3 billion.
In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, ActBlue noted, “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!”
Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, reportedly raised $150 million in commitments from major donors within 24 hours following Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris. Additionally, Swing Left, which supports the eventual Democratic nominee, raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and pledged his support. Prominent Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also shown backing for Harris.
Biden’s notable fundraising efforts in the past have been triggered by significant events, such as after being defeated by former President Trump in a televised debate on June 27, where he and his committees raised around $28 million in just two days. Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden managed to raise $19.2 million, whereas Trump and his affiliated groups garnered $69 million shortly after his conviction in late May, which even caused a temporary crash of his campaign website. Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC aligned with Trump, raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups collected $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups amassed $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.