Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform, ActBlue.
Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project, reported that ActBlue recorded this sum over the past two days based on a live tracker, providing a glimpse into the group’s fundraising success ahead of upcoming official disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to launch Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the biggest fundraising day for the 2024 cycle recorded by ActBlue. The previous high point for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, on the day of the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
As a result of the significant donations on Sunday, ActBlue surpassed $14 billion raised since its inception two decades ago. In comparison, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform launched in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed its excitement about the influx of contributions, noting that many individuals reported making their first-ever donations in the past 24 hours. They described this development as encouraging for the grassroots movement.
Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within 24 hours following Biden’s announcement and his endorsement of Harris, as reported by Politico. Additionally, the group Swing Left, which has begun supporting the eventual Democratic nominee, stated it raised over $160,000 within the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence that Harris’s campaign would be “very well financed” and pledged his support. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also endorsed Harris.
Biden’s fundraising peaks have historically followed notable political events, such as the aftermath of his debate loss to Trump on June 27, which saw Biden and his committees raising around $28 million in the subsequent days. Additionally, Biden raised $19.2 million after Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts. During the same period, Trump and his affiliated groups raised $69 million from May 30 to May 31, with one of Trump’s aligned PACs, Make America Great Again Inc., raising $70 million that month.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups amassed $332.4 million while pro-Trump groups raised $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funding compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.