Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic groups, recorded this amount over the previous two days, according to Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, who tracks donations. While this figure is not officially validated, it reflects the fundraising activity ahead of the required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising total for the 2024 election cycle on ActBlue. This eclipses the previous notable fundraising day, which occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With the influx of donations over the weekend, ActBlue surpassed $14 billion in total funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent, has amassed approximately $4.3 billion since its launch in late 2019, as reported by OpenSecrets.
ActBlue noted on its platform that many new donors expressed that they made their first contributions following Biden’s announcement, highlighting a surge in small-dollar donations.
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reportedly secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of his announcement and endorsement of Harris. Additionally, Swing Left raised over $160,000 to support the eventual Democratic nominee in the same time frame.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and offered his support. Notable Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their backing for Harris.
Previously, Biden experienced significant fundraising days following debates, notably raising around $28 million after a televised debate with Donald Trump on June 27. He also gathered $19.2 million shortly after Trump was convicted on multiple felony charges, while Trump’s campaign raised $69 million around the same timeframe, causing a temporary crash of his campaign website.
During the period from April to June, pro-Biden groups brought in $332.4 million, compared to $431.2 million for pro-Trump groups. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.