In the wake of President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will not run for re-election, the Democratic Party has successfully raised $100 million from donors through ActBlue, its primary fundraising platform. This total has been reported over the past two days and is tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer for The Marshall Project. While this figure is not officially confirmed, it reflects the substantial fundraising momentum just weeks before any formal financial disclosures are due.
On Sunday alone, contributions reached $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking it as the most significant single-day fundraising effort for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. This surpasses even the previous notable fundraising day on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With the surge in donations, ActBlue crossed the remarkable milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the fundraising platform for Republican candidates established in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion, as per OpenSecrets.
ActBlue reported a wave of new small-dollar donors, many of whom stated they were making their first contributions in the past 24 hours. Another Biden-aligned super PAC, Future Forward, secured $150 million in new pledges from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Additionally, Swing Left raised over $160,000 to support the eventual Democratic nominee within the same time frame.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed strong confidence in Harris’s campaign finances, affirming his support. Prominent Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also committed to backing Harris.
Historically, Biden’s fundraising efforts peaked following a televised debate loss to Trump on June 27, raising about $28 million in the following days. In contrast, he raised $19.2 million after Trump faced criminal charges, with Trump’s campaign raising $69 million in the ensuing days after his conviction, even causing a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website.
From April to June, groups supporting Biden raised a total of $332.4 million, while pro-Trump factions garnered $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden’s campaign had $281 million in available funds, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.