Following President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will not run for re-election, Democrats raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform in just two days.
ActBlue, the political action committee serving Democratic organizations, noted this figure from a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. While this total is not official, as it is based on ActBlue’s own data since 2004, it offers insight into the group’s fundraising momentum ahead of obligatory disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed nearly $66.9 million to launch Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest single-day fundraising effort for ActBlue in the current election cycle. The previous high for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The influx of funds on Sunday propelled ActBlue’s overall fundraising to $14 billion since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent founded in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue shared an encouraging message on X, formerly Twitter, noting that many donors were contributing for the first time. “It’s so motivating to see new small-dollar donors join the grassroots movement!” they stated.
In addition, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, garnered $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day following Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which launched a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed,” reaffirming his support. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s fundraising efforts spiked right after significant events, such as following a debate where he faced off against Trump on June 27, which resulted in about $28 million raised in a day. Additionally, Biden raised $19.2 million after Trump’s conviction on felony counts, while Trump and his allies collected $69 million in the immediate aftermath, temporarily crashing Trump’s campaign website. In total, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million compared to $431.2 million for pro-Trump groups between April and June. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available, while Trump had $336.2 million.