Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, the Democratic Party raised an impressive $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform, ActBlue.
ActBlue, a political action committee supporting Democratic initiatives, reported this significant financial boost over a span of two days, according to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project. While this figure is not officially verified—being drawn from ActBlue’s own extensive donation records dating back to 2004—it offers insight into the organization’s fundraising progress ahead of formal disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to initiate Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the most successful fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The previous peak occurred on September 30, 2020, following the first debate between Biden and Trump, as noted by Murphy’s analysis.
As a result of this donation surge, ActBlue surpassed a total of $14 billion raised since its founding two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform established in late 2019, has collected around $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm about the new influx of contributors, stating on X, formerly Twitter, “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!”
In addition, Future Forward, a super PAC allied with Biden, garnered $150 million in commitments from major contributors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which was set up to support the eventual Democratic candidate, reported raising over $160,000 in the same time frame.
Evercore’s founder, Roger Altman, affirmed on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and declared his support for her. Notable Democratic donors like George and Alex Soros have also shown backing for Harris.
Previously, Biden saw his fundraising spike immediately after facing off against Trump in a televised debate on June 27, bringing in roughly $28 million in the following days. He also raised $19.2 million after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, while Trump and his affiliates raised $69 million within 24 hours post-conviction on May 30. This surge caused temporary disruptions to Trump’s campaign website. An associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised an additional $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups accumulated $332.4 million, while those backing Trump collected $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the conclusion of June, Biden reported having $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.