The floodgates have opened up for Vice President Kamala Harris with the now-presidential candidate receiving nearly $50 million in donations following President Joe Biden’s drop out of the 2024 race on Sunday.
The fundraising group ActBlue reporting its “biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle” on Sunday. As of 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, about seven hours after Biden’s announcement, “grassroot supporters” had raised $46.7 million through ActBlue “following Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign launch,” the progressive donation platform wrote on X.
“This has been the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle. Small-dollar donors are fired up and ready to take on this election,” ActBlue added.
The campaign officially changed its Federal Election Commission committee name to “Harris for President” following Biden’s withdrawal and his nearly $96 million in campaign finances were being transferred to the vice president’s name Sunday.
Major Democratic donors, including venture capitalist Reid Hoffman, immediately backed Harris. Hoffman praised Harris on Threads, calling her “the right person at the right time.” CNBC reported that Hoffman plans on donating even more in support to Harris than he did when he was backing Biden through this election cycle, according to a person familiar with the matter.
This move comes days after many of them had announced they hold back funds from a Biden-led ticket, after his debate on June 27 against former President Donald Trump. Another source said Wall Street executive Marc Lasry, who helped raise money for Harris when she ran against Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary, will help her now in her race for the nomination.
Alexander Soros, the son of Democratic donor George Soros, also took to Instagram to announce that “it’s time for us all to unite around Kamala Harris and beat Donald Trump.” The outpouring of donations coming Harris’ way speaks of the enthusiasm and optimism sparked among Democratic voters by Biden’s decision to abandon his bid for re-election.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden wrote in a letter posted on X. “And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
In a later post, the president endorsed Harris as the new Democratic nominee, writing: “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats—it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
Harris responded saying she was “honored to have the President’s endorsement” and adding that her “intention is to earn and win this nomination.” Shortly after, the “Biden for President” campaign filed the necessary paperwork to change its name to “Harris for President.”
Since then, Harris has been endorsed by major Democratic figures, including the likes of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Governor Gavin Newsom of California, Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
