Harris raises $50m after Biden's exit from presidential race

Democrats poured in nearly $50m (£38.7m) in donations for Vice-President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday.

The progressive donation platform ActBlue said the amount from small donors marks “the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle".

“Grassroots supporters are energized and excited to support her as the Democratic nominee,” said ActBlue 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 $27.5m in the first five hours of Ms Harris’ presidential campaign. That number nearly doubled by the end of the day.

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 $73.5m after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

They are also the third in ActBlue’s history, which counts donations made to most Democrats in the House and Senate, as well as non-profits.

The new funds mark a significant turn for the Democratic Party, which has 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.

But 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.

Joe Cotchett, a San Francisco-based political fundraiser for the Democrats, told NBC News that donors “are now ready to dig into their pockets".

Among them is Gideon Stein, president of the Moriah Fund and a donor for the party, who told the US news outlet that he will resume his funding after having paused it because of concerns over Mr Biden’s electability.

Many Democrats have since voiced support for Ms Harris as she steps into her White House bid, including California Governor Gavin Newsom and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

Transportation Secretary under the Biden administration Pete Buttigieg also voiced his support, writing on X that Ms Harris “is now the right person to take up the torch, defeat Donald Trump and succeed Joe Bien as president.”

Former US president Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have also expressed support for Ms Harris.

“Now is the time to support Kamala Harris and fight with everything we’ve got to elect her,” the Clintons said in a statement.

There are still some big names who have not yet endorsed Kamala Harris.

These include former President Barack Obama, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries.

This matters, because the Democrats need to move quickly to get behind a candidate if they want to show unity. Senior Democrats, like these individuals, will be key to that - and to rallying further support.

Some of these figures could still endorse her, though. And if they did, arguably it might add a further boost if done in isolation from the wave of other endorsements.