Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats have raised $100 million through their primary fundraising platform. ActBlue, a political action committee that serves Democratic groups, reported this amount over a span of two days, as per a real-time tracker developed by Ryan Murphy at The Marshall Project. Although this figure is not officially verified, it highlights the group’s fundraising performance just weeks prior to required financial disclosures.
On Sunday, contributors pledged $66.9 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, setting a new record for single-day fundraising in the 2024 election cycle through ActBlue. The previous high took place on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump, according to Murphy’s data.
Thanks to the influx of donations, ActBlue has now raised a remarkable total of $14 billion since its inception two decades ago. In contrast, WinRed, its Republican counterpart that started in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue expressed enthusiasm over the surge of new contributions, noting that many individuals made their first donations in the last 24 hours, which they found inspiring for the grassroots movement.
In the wake of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris, Future Forward, a super PAC aligned with Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within just 24 hours. Moreover, Swing Left reported raising over $160,000 within the same timeframe to support the eventual Democratic nominee, as communicated to the Agence France-Presse.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, stated that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and confirmed his pledge of support. Prominent Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also expressed their backing for Harris.
Historically, Biden’s most successful fundraising periods have coincided with significant events, such as following his debate loss to Trump on June 27, which generated around $28 million for his campaign in the following days. Additionally, Biden raised $19.2 million after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, while Trump and his allied organizations garnered $69 million from the day of his conviction to the next.
From April to June, pro-Biden groups raised $332.4 million, compared to $431.2 million for pro-Trump groups, as reported by The Financial Times. By the end of June, Biden’s campaign had $281 million in funds available, while Trump had $336.2 million.