Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee and fundraising platform for Democratic organizations, reported this amount over the past two days, according to a live tracker maintained by a developer at The Marshall Project. While the figure is unofficial and derived from ActBlue’s comprehensive donation tracker since 2004, it highlights the group’s fundraising success just weeks before required disclosures are due.
On Sunday alone, contributors donated $66.9 million to launch Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking a record fundraising day in the 2024 cycle for ActBlue. The second-highest single-day donations recently occurred on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, based on the tracker data.
Thanks to this influx of donations, ActBlue has surpassed $14 billion in funds raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican equivalent established in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm on social media, 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!”
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reportedly secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day of Biden’s announcement and subsequent endorsement of Harris. Additionally, Swing Left, which has launched a fund to support the eventual Democratic nominee, stated it raised over $160,000 within the same 24-hour period.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, indicated that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and expressed his support. High-profile donors such as George and Alex Soros have also endorsed Harris.
Previously, Biden experienced his most significant fundraising days after facing defeat by Trump during a televised debate on June 27, raising about $28 million between that date and June 28. Post-Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden garnered $19.2 million in donations, while Trump and his associated groups raised $69 million between May 30 and May 31. This surge caused a temporary crash of Trump’s campaign website. An aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups collected $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups received $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.