This Is The Most Money Ever Raised By An Election Campaign In A Single Day

July 21, 2024, saw the historic announcement that President Joe Biden would no longer run for a second term. Instead, President Biden endorsed his running mate, and current vice president, Kamala Harris. With only 107 days to go until the presidential election, Biden's decision to step aside was not only considered a politically risky one, but also an unprecedented one. The last president not to run for reelection was Lyndon Johnson in 1968. However, Johnson announced his decision in March of the election year, as opposed to late July. Election timeline notwithstanding, Biden's decision has led to a surge of reinvigorated interest in an election cycle that had previously left many Americans feeling increasingly anxious. As of the end of the first 24 hours of Kamala Harris' candidacy, her campaign had raked in a whopping $81 million grassroots donations.

However, while the Democratic Party faces renewed interest in the election, questions remain as to how — or even if — the Harris campaign can claim access to previously earned campaign donations made when Biden was the candidate. Further, as the Republican Party attempts to pivot in the wake of this unprecedented election change-up, there are bound to be challenges and even potential legal ramifications surrounding Biden's decision. With the Democratic National Convention scheduled to begin on August 19, the Democratic Party and Kamala Harris' campaign have a lot to navigate. With ever-increasing amounts required for political campaigns today (we broke down the most expensive presidential campaign in U.S. history), fundraising is an increasingly important issue for candidates. With that in mind, so far fundraising seems to be the least of Harris' concerns.

Political donations can be made in a myriad of ways, and one of the largest Democratic political action committees (PAC) and fundraising platforms that would-be donors use is ActBlue. In the first 24 hours following President Joe Biden's announcement, ActBlue had reported processing over $90 million in online donations. It's important to keep in mind that ActBlue donations go to the overall PAC, not necessarily to Kamala Harris' campaign (although, per a New York Times analysis, Harris accounted for roughly 70% of the donations to the site on July 21). Harris' campaign reported having 888,000 donors in her first day as a presidential candidate, with 60% of donors making their first contribution of the 2024 election.

The massive uptick in political donations to ActBlue is a good sign of just how excited individual donors (aka voters) are about the Democratic candidate change-up. In a post on the social platform X, ActBlue shared, "This has been the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle." Plus, at one point on Sunday night, online donations peaked at $11.5 million in a single hour. The Harris campaign is sure to fundraise even more in the days to follow, as it capitalizes on a renewed voter interest and sentiment surrounding the upcoming election. Plus, it's also worth noting the stock market has had a noticeable bump on Monday with both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 on the rise. (Remember, the stock market tends to do better with a Democrat in the White House).

You might find yourself wondering where the money that's already been donated to President Joe Biden's campaign goes now that he has stepped aside. The answer has to do with how the Federal Election Committee handles funds. Kamala Harris' campaign has already moved to officially change the FEC committee name away from Biden to "Harris for President” instead. This would allow the almost $96 million already raised in campaign finances (often referred to as a candidate's war chest) to be transferred to Harris. The reason the funds could enjoy this more seamless transfer stems from the fact that donations to the original Biden/Harris campaign were, in fact, donations to the entire ticket. Since her name was already included as part of the initial FEC paperwork for the campaign committee, the campaign can simply amend its name without the legal headaches of an entirely separate campaign.

Yet, Republicans have already taken aim at the approach, crying foul at changing the campaign's name in order to continue accessing money they argue was for Biden alone. The Republican FEC chairman, Sean Cooksey, told The Washington Post, "Replacing a presidential candidate and handing over his committee to someone else is unprecedented under current campaign finance law." Perhaps one of the biggest issues with this challenge is the fact that the six-member FEC board that would decide on something like this is gridlocked with an even split of Democrats and Republicans. This leaves open the possibility that any GOP-led challenges to the Harris campaign's access to these funds could land in court.