Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats secured $100 million from donors through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that facilitates fundraising for Democratic initiatives, reported this amount over the last two days, as noted by Ryan Murphy, a developer with The Marshall Project. While this figure is not officially verified, it reflects the group’s fundraising success ahead of scheduled disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributors provided $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the most significant fundraising day in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous high for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
As a result of the donation surge this Sunday, ActBlue surpassed $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception 20 years ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform launched in 2019, has accumulated approximately $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue stated on X, formerly known as Twitter, that many individuals had made their first contributions in the past 24 hours, showcasing the enthusiasm of new small-dollar donors joining the grassroots movement.
In the wake of Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in commitments from large donors within 24 hours, as reported by Politico. Additionally, Swing Left, which established a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and offered his support. Notably, Democratic mega-donors George and Alex Soros have also pledged their backing to her.
Biden’s previous notable fundraising moments included a significant boost after he faced off against Trump in a televised debate on June 27, which generated approximately $28 million in contributions. Following Trump’s indictment on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliated groups amassed $69 million in just a day, leading to a temporary crash of his campaign website. The super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. raised $70 million in the same month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups collected $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups brought in $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.