Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Democrats managed to raise $100 million from donors through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee and fundraising tool for Democratic organizations, recorded this amount over a two-day period, as reported by developer Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. Although these figures are not official yet—since they are based on ActBlue’s extensive donation tracker that has been active since 2004—they offer insight into the fundraising momentum ahead of the necessary official disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributors gave $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign launch, marking the largest fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The previous high for donations in recent times was on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With the boost from donations on Sunday, ActBlue reached a total of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that started in late 2019, has gathered approximately $4.3 billion to date.
ActBlue stated on X (formerly known as Twitter) that they saw many first-time donors contributing in the last 24 hours, expressing excitement about the increase in small-dollar donations to the grassroots movement.
In addition, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, reportedly secured $150 million in new commitments from significant donors within 24 hours following Biden’s announcement and Harris’s endorsement. Another group, Swing Left, which has established a fund backing the ultimate Democratic candidate, raised over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, remarked on Monday that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and expressed his backing of her candidacy. Prominent Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also voiced their support for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s stronger fundraising days have often followed pivotal moments, such as after he was decisively defeated by Trump during a televised debate on June 27, when Biden and his committees raised around $28 million in the immediate aftermath. He also gathered $19.2 million shortly after Trump was convicted on multiple felony charges. In contrast, Trump and associated groups raised $69 million within a day following his conviction, leading to a temporary crash of his campaign website. An associated super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million in that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups collected $332.4 million, whereas pro-Trump groups raised $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.