Democrats have raised $100 million from donors through their primary fundraising platform just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not be seeking re-election. The online political action committee ActBlue, which supports Democratic organizations, reported this significant fundraising achievement over the past two days via a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. While this figure is based on ActBlue’s long-term donation tracking rather than official reports, it offers insight into the party’s fundraising activities ahead of any mandatory disclosures.
On Sunday alone, the platform recorded an impressive $66.9 million in contributions linked to Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign launch, marking the largest fundraising day in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. This surpassed the previous best day on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The recent influx of donations has pushed ActBlue’s total raised since its inception to $14 billion. In contrast, its Republican counterpart, WinRed, established in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue announced on social media that many new donors shared they made their first contributions in the last 24 hours, indicating a surge of grassroots support for the movement. Moreover, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Similarly, the group Swing Left, focused on supporting the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same time frame.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, mentioned on Monday that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and expressed his support. Well-known Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also thrown their weight behind Harris.
In previous instances, Biden’s most successful fundraising days followed notable events, such as after a debate loss to Trump in June and after Trump’s indictment on felony charges. Biden raised approximately $28 million shortly after the debate on June 27 and collected $19.2 million after Trump’s felony indictment. Meanwhile, Trump and affiliated groups raised $69 million within days of the indictment, causing a temporary crash of his campaign website. For the quarter ending in June, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups amassed $431.2 million, leaving Biden with $281 million cash on hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.