A day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million from donors through ActBlue, their main fundraising platform. This impressive figure was reported by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, who tracks donations. Although this tally is not official, as it comes from ActBlue’s own donation tracker that has been in operation since 2004, it offers insight into the Democratic fundraising landscape ahead of formal disclosures.
On Sunday, donors contributed an astonishing $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the most significant fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The second-largest day for fundraising occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
This surge in donations helped ActBlue surpass $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, its Republican counterpart, WinRed, has collected around $4.3 billion since its launch in late 2019, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue emphasized 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, garnered $150 million in new commitments from prominent donors shortly after Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which launched a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising over $160,000 within the same 24-hour period.
Evercore founder Roger Altman remarked on Monday that Harris’s campaign is likely to be “very well financed” and expressed his support for her. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also shown their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s fundraising peaks followed significant events, such as his defeat by Trump in a televised debate on June 27, when Biden and his committees raised around $28 million within a day. Biden also raised $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, while Trump and his affiliated groups raised $69 million during the same time frame, with substantial interest leading to a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website. The aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden groups collected $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups raised $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.