Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democratic fundraising surged, amassing $100 million through the ActBlue platform, which serves as a key fundraising tool for Democratic organizations. This significant amount was reported over a two-day period, based on a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. Although the total may not be officially confirmed, it reflects the fundraising momentum just weeks before required financial disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to the presidential campaign launch of Vice President Kamala Harris, marking the highest fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The previous record for daily donations was during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump on September 30, 2020.
This influx of support on Sunday also helped ActBlue surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, its Republican counterpart, WinRed, which started accepting donations in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion, as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed excitement about the recent surge in donations, stating on X, formerly known as Twitter, that many new small-dollar donors participated for the first time, further energizing the grassroots movement.
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, garnered $150 million in new commitments from major donors promptly after Biden’s announcement and subsequent endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, another organization supporting the Democratic nominee, also reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, the founder of Evercore, mentioned on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” while also voicing his support. Notable Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their backing to Harris.
Historically, Biden’s strongest fundraising days followed his significant defeats by Trump during key debates. For instance, after being outperformed in a debate on June 27, he and his affiliated committees raised around $28 million in the ensuing days. Following Trump’s conviction on multiple felony counts, Biden collected $19.2 million, while Trump and his supporters raised $69 million in a single 24-hour span related to the conviction.
Between April and June, pro-Biden organizations raised around $332.4 million contrasted with pro-Trump groups, which collected $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in available funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.