By Deutsche Welle
22 Jul 2024, 01:24 AM EDT
Democratic fundraising group ActBlue said Sunday it has recorded its largest single-day fundraising haul for the 2024 election after US President Joe Biden dropped his candidacy and endorsed his vice president Kamala Harris to succeed him.
“As of 9 p.m., grassroots supporters have raised $46.7 million through ActBlue following the launch of Vice President Kamala Harris’s candidacy,” the group said on social media.
“This has been the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle. “Small donors are excited and ready to take on this election,” ActBlue wrote.
ActBlue previously said that in the first five hours of Harris’ campaign, the platform raised more than $27.5 million through donations from small donors, local newspaper The Hill reported.
Democratic campaign took a turn
The Democratic campaign for the White House took a turn for the worse on Sunday after the president, following weeks of internal and external pressure, indicated that he was withdrawing from the electoral race.
Biden, 81, saw his physical and mental capacity questioned after his poor performance in the electoral debate on June 27 against former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump (2017-2021) and after other verbal lapses that followed.
In his letter to the nation announcing his decision, he asked for a vote for the current vice president, Kamala Harris.
In the first hours of electoral turbulence, prominent figures of the Democratic Party, such as former President Barack Obama (2009-2017), the influential Californian congresswoman Nancy Pelosi or the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, have not expressed their sympathy for anyone.
Support for Kamala
Former President Bill Clinton (1993-2001) and former presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, are some of those who have already expressed their support for Harris. shortly after Biden’s historic announcement.
She also received support from one of her potential heavyweight rivals: California Governor Gavin Newsom, who considers her “best positioned” to “oppose Donald Trump’s dark vision,” she wrote in X.
At 59, Harris is much younger than Trump, 78, whose candidacy was ratified this week by the Republican Party convention.
Harris has already said she will accept the nomination. The nomination is traditionally made official at the National Convention, which will take place this year between August 19 and 22 in Chicago, but there are already calls for the election process to be open and for the party delegates to be released.
The final say lies with the party delegates: 3,900 people with very varied profiles and for the most part completely unknown to the public.
Keep reading:
- Who could challenge Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination?
- Who is Kamala Harris, the first female vice president in history and Biden’s favorite to replace him as a candidate?
- Kamala Harris confirms she wants to run as she continues fundraising