Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats raised $100 million through its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee and fundraising tool for Democratic organizations, reported this remarkable figure within a span of two days, based on a live tracker created by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. Although this total is unofficial and draws from ActBlue’s comprehensive donation records dating back to 2004, it offers insight into the fundraising efforts just weeks prior to official disclosures.
On Sunday alone, supporters contributed $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the largest fundraising day thus far in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The second-largest fundraising day in recent memory occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
As a result of the donation surge on Sunday, ActBlue surpassed $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, its Republican counterpart established in late 2019, has accumulated around $4.3 billion in fundraising, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue commented on social media, expressing enthusiasm about the new donors. “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!”
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in fresh commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, Politico reported. Swing Left, a new initiative supporting the eventual Democratic nominee, stated it raised over $160,000 shortly after Biden’s announcement.
Roger Altman, the founder of Evercore, noted on Monday that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and expressed his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris.
Previously, Biden’s best fundraising days unfolded after he faced a significant loss to former president Donald Trump during a televised debate on June 27. Biden and his committees gathered around $28 million from that day until June 28, according to a New York Times analysis.
Biden also raised $19.2 million in the aftermath of Trump being found guilty of 34 felony counts. Trump and his associated groups generated $69 million from May 30 to May 31, immediately following his conviction, which temporarily overwhelmed Trump’s campaign website. An allied super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., also raised $70 million that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups received $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million at his disposal, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.