Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats successfully raised $100 million via their primary fundraising platform. ActBlue, which serves as a political action committee and fundraising hub for Democratic organizations, reported this total over a span of two days through a live tracker run by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. Though this figure is not officially verified, it reflects the fundraising outcomes prior to any mandatory financial disclosures.
On Sunday alone, contributions soared to $66.9 million as support surged for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential bid, making it the most productive fundraising day in the 2024 election cycle for ActBlue. The second highest single-day donations were recorded on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s data.
The influx of donations on Sunday allowed ActBlue to surpass $14 billion raised since its establishment two decades ago. In comparison, its Republican counterpart, WinRed, launched in late 2019, has amassed approximately $4.3 billion in donations.
ActBlue revealed on X, formerly Twitter, that many donors shared they made their first contributions in the past day, highlighting the growth in small-dollar donations that energize grassroots support.
Following Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, garnered $150 million in new commitments from significant donors within 24 hours. Additionally, Swing Left announced that it collected over $160,000 in support of the eventual Democratic nominee during the same timeframe.
Evercore founder Roger Altman expressed confidence on Monday that Harris’s campaign will receive strong financial backing and confirmed his support for her. High-profile Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also rallied behind Harris.
Previously, Biden experienced significant fundraising success right after a televised debate on June 27, where he was outperformed by former president Trump, raising about $28 million in the days that followed, according to a New York Times analysis.
Biden also raised $19.2 million following Trump’s conviction on 34 felony charges, versus Trump and his associated groups, which raised $69 million from the moment of his conviction on May 30 to May 31. The surge of donations briefly crashed Trump’s campaign website, while his aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raised $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden entities raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump factions collected $431.2 million, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million on hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.