Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million from donors via its primary fundraising platform.
According to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, ActBlue, a political action committee used for fundraising by Democratic organizations, recorded this amount over the past two days. While this figure is unofficial and derived from ActBlue’s donation records since 2004, it showcases the group’s significant fundraising capabilities just weeks ahead of mandatory disclosure deadlines.
On Sunday alone, fundraising spikes were reported, with donors contributing $66.9 million to launch Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising total for the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The previous high was on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s tracker.
With this recent outpouring of donations, ActBlue reached a milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising counterpart established in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion as reported by OpenSecrets.
In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, ActBlue expressed excitement over the influx of first-time donors, stating, “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 supporting Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from prominent donors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which initiated a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, remarked on Monday that Harris’s campaign is expected to be “very well financed” and affirmed his support for her candidacy. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
Previously, Biden’s fundraising efforts peaked following his notable loss to Donald Trump in a June debate, where he and his committees generated around $28 million in a short span. Additionally, Biden raised $19.2 million after Trump faced felony charges, while Trump’s affiliated groups collected $69 million following his conviction.
Pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million between April and June, whereas pro-Trump groups attracted $431.2 million during the same period. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.