Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million from donors through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to fundraising for Democratic causes, recorded this significant amount over the past two days, as reported by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. Although these figures are not official and are based on ActBlue’s internal tracking of donations since 2004, they highlight the fundraising momentum just weeks before required disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions reached $66.9 million following the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest single-day fundraising total for the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. In comparison, the second-largest fundraising day in recent years occurred on September 30, 2020, when Biden and Trump faced off in their first debate.
As a result of this donation surge on Sunday, ActBlue reached a milestone of $14 billion in funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform launched in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion so far.
ActBlue stated on X, formerly known as 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!”
Additionally, Future Forward, a super PAC in support of Biden, received $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, according to Politico. Swing Left, which initiated a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same time frame.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed his confidence in Harris’s campaign on Monday, stating it will be “very well financed” and pledged his support. Prominent Democratic donors, George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most successful fundraising days have occurred following significant events, including a televised debate loss to Trump on June 27, when he and his committees raised about $28 million shortly thereafter. In the aftermath of Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his associated organizations raised $69 million in the days following his conviction on May 30. During that period, Trump’s campaign website temporarily crashed due to the influx of donations. Additionally, the super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. garnered $70 million that same month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised a total of $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups collected $431.2 million, according to reports from The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.