Just one day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, the Democratic Party secured $100 million from donors through its primary fundraising platform.
ActBlue, a political action committee that facilitates fundraising for Democratic initiatives, reported these donations over a 48-hour period, as outlined in a live tracker created by Ryan Murphy from The Marshall Project. This amount, while not officially confirmed, highlights the fundraising momentum ahead of the upcoming disclosure deadlines.
On Sunday alone, contributors provided $66.9 million for the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, marking the largest single-day fundraising total for the 2024 election cycle through ActBlue. For context, the previous high for daily donations occurred on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
With this boost in donations, ActBlue announced it has accumulated $14 billion in total fundraising since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform that started in late 2019, has raised about $4.3 billion.
In a statement on social media, ActBlue noted an influx of new small-dollar donors, emphasizing the grassroots support experienced in the past 24 hours.
Furthermore, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, attracted $150 million in new commitments from significant donors within a day of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which initiated a fund to support the upcoming Democratic nominee, reported raising more than $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Evercore’s founder Roger Altman expressed confidence in Harris’s campaign financing and pledged his support. Additionally, prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have rallied behind her candidacy.
Earlier, Biden’s fundraising surge was noted following a televised debate defeat against Trump on June 27, when his campaigns raised around $28 million within a day. After Trump faced conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million in subsequent days, while Trump and his affiliated groups amassed $69 million during a similar period, causing a temporary crash of his campaign website due to overwhelming donor traffic. This resulted in Trump-aligned PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raising $70 million that month.
In the detailed analysis by The Financial Times, through much of the second quarter, pro-Biden organizations raised $332.4 million, while pro-Trump organizations received $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden had $281 million in funds, compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.