Just a day after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, the Democratic Party raised $100 million through its primary fundraising platform, ActBlue. This figure was recorded over two days, according to a tracker maintained by Ryan Murphy, a developer at The Marshall Project. While the tally is unofficial and based on ActBlue’s extensive donation records since 2004, it provides insight into the party’s fundraising efforts ahead of formal disclosures.
On Sunday alone, donors contributed $66.9 million to kick off Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, making it the most successful fundraising day for ActBlue in the 2024 election cycle. The second-highest day for fundraising was noted on September 30, 2020, during the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
As a result of this surge in donations, ActBlue celebrated reaching a significant milestone of $14 billion raised since its inception 20 years ago. In contrast, WinRed, the fundraising platform for Republicans that started in late 2019, has raised approximately $4.3 billion to date, according to OpenSecrets.
ActBlue remarked in a statement on social media that many individuals reported making their first-ever donations in the recent 24-hour period, reflecting the excitement of new small-dollar donors joining the grassroots movement.
In addition, Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Biden, secured $150 million in new commitments from major donors within a day of Biden’s announcement and endorsement of Harris. Swing Left, which was created to support the eventual Democratic nominee, reported raising more than $160,000 in the same timeframe.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore, expressed his belief that Harris’s campaign will be “very well financed” and indicated his support for her candidacy. Major Democratic donors, including George and Alex Soros, have also pledged their backing.
Previously, Biden experienced significant fundraising boosts after notable moments, such as his defeat by Donald Trump during a debate on June 27, which netted Biden’s campaigns around $28 million in just over a day. Following Trump’s recent conviction on multiple felony counts, Biden raised $19.2 million, while Trump and his affiliated groups garnered $69 million within a similar timeframe. The influx of donors momentarily crashed Trump’s campaign website, with the adjacent super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., raising $70 million in that month.
Overall, between April and June, groups supporting Biden accumulated $332.4 million, whereas Trump-aligned groups raised $431.2 million. By the end of June, Biden held $281 million in hand compared to Trump’s $336.2 million.