Democrats see fundraising bonanza after Harris takes over for Biden

President Joe Biden‘s decision to exit the 2024 race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris seems to have reenergized Democratic donors, with the party pulling in well over a quarter of a billion dollars across various super PACs and fundraising committees over the past 24 hours.

Donations, or a lack thereof, appeared to play a major role in Democratic power players’ shadow campaign to force Biden off the top of the party’s ticket.

Prior to Biden’s exit from the race, donations to the Biden campaign were expected to land as low as 25% of the initial projections for July. 

George Clooney, who had campaigned and fundraised for Biden multiple times this cycle, had written an op-ed shortly after Biden’s debate with former President Donald Trump, calling on the president to exit the race. Clooney also insinuated that his Hollywood peers should hold off on donating until Biden removed himself from the race.

And Hollywood executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, a longtime megabundler for Biden and other Democratic politicians, reportedly told the president last week that the donation checks had simply stopped flowing.

But early figures suggest that the money faucet has turned back on, landing Harris and Democrats their biggest fundraising day of the cycle by far.

Harris campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said Monday that the first 24 hours after Harris took over Biden’s operation saw the campaign pull in $81 million in small-dollar donations. Nearly two-thirds of that total came from first-time contributors.

“The historic outpouring of support for Vice President Harris represents exactly the kind of grassroots energy and enthusiasm that wins elections. Already, we are seeing a broad and diverse coalition come together to support our critical work of talking to the voters that will decide this election,” Munoz said in a statement. “There is a groundswell behind Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump is terrified because he knows his divisive, unpopular agenda can’t stand up to the Vice President’s record and vision for the American people.”

Future Forward, a core super PAC backing Biden and now Harris in 2024, additionally raised more than $150 million in the first 24 hours after Biden’s exit. The super PAC had previously reserved $250 million in television ad campaigns attacking Trump and held just over $120 million in hand at the end of June.

ActBlue, a political action committee supporting Democrats, reportedly pulled in more than $93 million across that same time frame.

Prior to Monday, the Biden campaign’s biggest fundraising day of the cycle was pegged directly to that first debate with Trump. On June 27 and 28, Biden and his allies raised nearly $30 million. 

For comparison, Trump’s biggest fundraising day came in the 24 hours after his felony conviction in New York.

Between May 30 and 31, Trump and his affiliated Republican fundraising groups brought in roughly $69 million in donations. 

Trump saw a similar boost in donations after surviving a recent assassination attempt, including a $45 million-a-month pledge from Elon Musk to support Trump’s White House bid.