Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats managed to raise $100 million from donors through ActBlue, their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee designed to facilitate donations for Democratic organizations, logged this impressive amount over a two-day period. The totals come from a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project, although these figures are not yet official as they rely on ActBlue’s comprehensive donation tracker that has been in place since 2004. This data gives an early glimpse into the group’s fundraising performance before any formal disclosures are submitted.
On Sunday alone, the platform saw an astonishing $66.9 million in donations for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising total for the 2024 election cycle through ActBlue. The previous record was set during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump on September 30, 2020.
With this recent boost, ActBlue has now raised a total of $14 billion since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that began operating in late 2019, has raised around $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue noted on X, formerly Twitter, that many people reported making their very first donation within the last 24 hours, highlighting the excitement of attracting new small-dollar contributors to the grassroots movement.
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris, as reported by Politico. Additionally, Swing Left, which established a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, announced that it raised over $160,000 within the same time frame.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, indicated on Monday that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and has expressed his support for her candidacy. Prominent Democrats, including mega-donors George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their support to Harris.
Previous notable fundraising days for Biden occurred after significant political events, including a televised debate defeat against Trump on June 27, which resulted in approximately $28 million raised by Biden and his committees within a day. Following Trump’s indictment on 34 felony counts, Biden garnered $19.2 million shortly thereafter. During the same indictment period, Trump and his affiliated groups amassed $69 million in just two days, briefly causing a crash on his campaign website. His aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised another $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden fundraising groups collected $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups raised $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden’s campaign had $281 million available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.