Democratic Party donors have poured a record amount into US Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign in the 24 hours since Joe Biden exited the White House race and endorsed her, the campaign said Monday.
It is the largest 24-hour period of campaign funding in presidential history with more than 888,000 donors making contributions of less than $200 on the day after Mr Biden stepped aside.
“Team Harris raised $81 million in its first 24 hours, adding to the existing near quarter-of-a-billion dollar war chest already amassed this election cycle”, the statement said, calling it the “largest 24-hour raise in presidential history”.
“Grassroots supporters are energized and excited to support her as the Democratic nominee”, ActBlue, the progressive donation platform, said on X.
Donors who had pulled back their funding over concerns about Mr Biden’s age say they now intend to resume their support for the party.
The party raised over $27.5 million in the first five hours of Ms Harris’ presidential campaign. That number nearly doubled by the end of the day. In 24 hours, the sum broke a presidential fundraising record.
The surge in donations in the last 24 hours is the single biggest for online contributions to Democrats since 2020, according to the New York Times, when ActBlue raised $73.5 million after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
The new funds marked a significant turn for the Democratic party, which had seen support erode from major donors after Mr Biden’s poor performance in June’s presidential debate against Donald Trump.
Grassroots funding from small donors had also diminished, according to Biden campaign insiders cited in US media.
Soon after Mr Biden’s announcement to drop out of the race and his endorsement of Ms Harris’ bid for the White House, Democrats went online to contribute at a startling pace.
Win With Black Women, a group of black women leaders, held a Zoom call with more than 44,000 participants on Sunday night to throw their support behind the vice president.
The group says it raised over $1.5 million in three hours for her presidential campaign.
A San Francisco-based political fundraiser for the Democrats, Joe Cotchett told NBC News that donors “are now ready to dig into their pockets”.
Among them is the president of the Moriah Fund and a donor for the party, Gideon Stein, who told the US news outlet that he will resume his funding after having paused it because of concerns over Mr Biden’s electability.
Several high-profile political donors have also indicated their support for Ms Harris as the Democratic party nominee.
The co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman called the vice-president “the right person at the right time”.
“I wholeheartedly support Kamala Harris and her candidacy for President of the United States in our fight for democracy in November”, he said in a post on X.
Another big name political donor, Alexander Soros, the son of philanthropist George Soros, said Ms Harris is “the best and most qualified candidate we have”.
Others, like entrepreneur and investor Vinod Khosla, called for an open process at the convention and “not a coronation”.
“The key still is who can best beat Trump above all other priorities”, he wrote on X.
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, known to be a Democratic megadonor, previously told the New York Times, that Biden should step down as the Democratic party nominee.
“Dem delegates need to pick a swing state winner”, he wrote on X on Sunday following Mr Biden’s announcement.
