Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats generated $100 million in donations through their primary fundraising platform, ActBlue. This figure was reported in a live tracker managed by Ryan Murphy of The Marshall Project, although the numbers are not considered official and are based on ActBlue’s own tracking since its inception in 2004.
On Sunday alone, contributors donated $66.9 million to launch Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. In comparison, the previous record was on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The substantial support received on Sunday enabled ActBlue to reach a remarkable $14 billion in total cash raised since its establishment two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform founded in late 2019, has raised around $4.3 billion.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm over the influx of new 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!”
In addition, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours of his announcement supporting Harris. Another group, Swing Left, reported raising over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
On Monday, Evercore founder Roger Altman noted that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and confirmed his support for her, alongside backing from prominent Democratic donors such as George and Alex Soros.
Historically, Biden’s strongest fundraising moments followed significant events, including after a debate defeat to Trump in June 2020 when he raised approximately $28 million in two days. He also raised $19.2 million shortly after Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, while Trump and affiliated groups collected $69 million during that timeframe, even causing a brief crash of his campaign website. The financial landscape also revealed that between April and June, pro-Biden groups amassed $332.4 million compared to pro-Trump groups’ $431.2 million. As of the end of June, Biden had $281 million available, while Trump had $336.2 million.