Following President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not be seeking re-election, Democrats have managed to raise an impressive $100 million through their primary fundraising platform, ActBlue. According to a live tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project, this fundraising surge was recorded over the past two days, reflecting the political climate as Biden officially endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
On Sunday alone, contributors donated $66.9 million, marking a major milestone in the fundraising cycle for ActBlue—its highest single-day total for the 2024 campaign thus far. This surge outpaces the previous major fundraising day, which occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
Thanks to this influx of donations, ActBlue has reached a total of $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, its Republican counterpart that began operating in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm about the new engagement from contributors, noting that many indicated they were making their first donations within the past 24 hours. Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, reportedly secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors just hours after Biden’s announcement and supportive endorsement of Harris. Additionally, Swing Left announced it raised over $160,000 to support the eventual Democratic nominee within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, emphasized his belief that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and highlighted backing from notable Democratic donors George and Alex Soros. In previous fundraising efforts, Biden had his best days of fundraising after being challenged by Trump during a debate, raising about $28 million shortly after.
Following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and affiliated organizations secured $69 million between the date of his conviction and the following day. Additionally, in May, the aligned super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. reported $70 million in fundraising during that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, in contrast to the $431.2 million raised by pro-Trump groups. By the end of June, Biden had a total of $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.