Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not pursue re-election, Democrats raised an impressive $100 million through ActBlue, their primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that facilitates fundraising for Democratic groups, reported this amount over the last two days, as tracked by Ryan Murphy, a developer with The Marshall Project. While this figure is not officially certified, it reflects the fundraising efforts leading up to mandatory disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donations totaled $66.9 million in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the highest fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The second-highest day for donations occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s tracker.
This recent surge of donations helped ActBlue surpass $14 billion in total funds raised since its establishment twenty years ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that started in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion since its launch, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue highlighted the influx of new small-dollar donors in a statement on X, previously known as Twitter, noting that many individuals reported making their first-ever donations in the wake of Biden’s announcement.
The Biden-aligned super PAC Future Forward garnered $150 million in new commitments from significant contributors within 24 hours of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Additionally, Swing Left, which initiated a fund for the eventual Democratic nominee, raised over $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign financing, affirming his support. Notable Democratic donors George and Alex Soros have also pledged their backing for her candidacy.
Historically, Biden’s most successful fundraising days followed challenging moments, such as after a debate defeat to Trump on June 27, which resulted in around $28 million raised between that day and the next. Biden also managed to raise $19.2 million shortly after Trump faced felony charges, while Trump and his affiliated groups raised a significant $69 million in the immediate aftermath of his conviction.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump groups gathered $431.2 million, according to The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden reported having $281 million in funds available, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.