Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats raised $100 million from contributors through their primary fundraising platform.
According to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project, ActBlue, which serves as a political action committee and fundraising platform for Democratic organizations, reported this significant sum collected over the past two days. Even though this figure is not an official tally—it’s based on ActBlue’s comprehensive donation data since 2004—it showcases the group’s fundraising performance ahead of upcoming disclosure requirements.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest single-day fundraising total for this election cycle on ActBlue. The previous notable day for donations was September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
As a result of the surge in donations on Sunday, ActBlue achieved a milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception 20 years ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican counterpart that started in late 2019, has accumulated approximately $4.3 billion in donations, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed their excitement on X, formerly known as Twitter, noting, “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 aligned with Biden, reportedly received $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which launched a fund to support the future Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and indicated his support. Democratic major donors, George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their backing to Harris.
Previously, Biden experienced substantial fundraising success after his defeat by Trump in a televised debate on June 27, raising around $28 million in the following days, according to a New York Times analysis.
After Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million shortly after, while Trump and his aligned groups raised $69 million from the day of his conviction, leading to a brief crash of Trump’s campaign website. The affiliated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million during that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups brought in $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.