Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party successfully raised $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform.
According to a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project, ActBlue, a political action committee dedicated to Democratic fundraising, reported this amount was collected within the last two days. While the figure is not official as it is based on ActBlue’s donation records since its inception in 2004, it offers a snapshot of the group’s fundraising success ahead of any formal disclosures.
On Sunday, contributions peaked at $66.9 million for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign launch, marking the most significant fundraising day in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The second-highest day for donations was September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
Due to this recent boost in donations, ActBlue has now raised a total of $14 billion since its establishment two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform initiated in late 2019, has accumulated approximately $4.3 billion since its launch.
ActBlue shared on X, previously known as Twitter, that many individuals reported making their first-ever donations in the last 24 hours, expressing excitement at the influx of new small-dollar contributors to the grassroots effort.
Furthermore, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which initiated a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, noted it raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, affirmed Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed,” and noted the backing from significant Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros.
Historically, Biden’s most prominent fundraising spikes occurred following his debates with former president Donald Trump. For example, he raised around $28 million between June 27 and June 28 after a debate on June 27. Additionally, Biden collected $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on multiple felony counts, while Trump’s campaign raised $69 million within a day after his conviction, causing a temporary crash of his campaign website. An aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., also raised $70 million that month.
Between April and June, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million, compared to $431.2 million raised by pro-Trump groups. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds available, whereas Trump had $336.2 million.