Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats managed to raise $100 million through their primary fundraising platform.
According to a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project, ActBlue, a political action committee that facilitates fundraising for Democratic organizations, registered this financial influx over the past two days. While this amount is not yet official, as it is based on ActBlue’s own donation records since its inception in 2004, it reflects the fundraising performance leading up to the mandatory disclosure deadlines.
On Sunday alone, contributors donated $66.9 million to kickstart Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest single-day fundraising event for the 2024 cycle recorded by ActBlue. The second-highest day for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, as noted by Murphy’s tracker.
With this substantial increase in donations, ActBlue has reached a remarkable $14 billion collected since it was established two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, its Republican counterpart, which began operations in late 2019, has amassed roughly $4.3 billion according to OpenSecrets.
In a statement on X, previously known as Twitter, ActBlue shared the excitement surrounding the surge in contributions, noting that many individuals reported making their first-ever donations within the last 24 hours. They described the situation as an inspiring influx of new small-dollar donors joining the grassroots movement.
Within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reported receiving $150 million in new commitments from major donors, as Politico has reported. Additionally, Swing Left, which has initiated a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, stated it raised over $160,000 within just one day.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in the financial backing for Harris’s campaign and pledged his support. Notable Democratic mega-donors George and Alex Soros have also shown their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s major fundraising spikes occurred after significant events, such as following his defeat in a debate against Trump on June 27, where he and his committees raised about $28 million in just a day. Subsequently, Biden raised $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts. Conversely, Trump and his allied groups raised $69 million from the day of his indictment through the following day, which caused a temporary crash on his campaign website. An associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that same month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups collected $332.4 million while pro-Trump groups garnered $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden held $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.