In the 24 hours after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek a second term, Vice President Kamala Harris raised more money in one day than any candidate in the 2024 cycle, collecting more than $81 million since Sunday from donors across the nation.
The Harris campaign reported reaching $100 million less than 12 hours after that.
While the influx of cash — which came through the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, the Democratic National Committee and joint fundraising committees — reflects enthusiasm among Democrats, it does not necessarily mean fundraising in Georgia will change drastically in the long term.
“I imagine the fundraising is going to look a lot like it has before. As a red state with a lot of Republican infrastructure, Donald Trump is still going to outpace Democratic fundraisers in the state,” said Jeffrey Glas, a political scientist at the University of Georgia. “But at the end of the day, when it comes election time, it won’t necessarily reflect that way. It’s going to remain competitive.”
Glas pointed to the election in 2020, when Trump raised almost $3 million more than Biden in Georgia but lost the election in the state by less than 12,000 votes.
Georgians have sent over $13 million to Democratic campaigns via ActBlue since the beginning of 2023. Figures from Georgia donors to the Harris campaign were not immediately available, but Glas said the total amount raised nationwide is an “extraordinary” increase. Fundraising for Harris has surpassed the $95 million in cash on hand the Biden campaign held at the end of June.
In June, Biden raised about $170,000 less than Trump from Georgia donors, according to the campaign’s most recent reports of itemized donations with the Federal Election Commission. Before dropping out, Biden received over $2.6 million from donors in the state while Trump has accumulated over $5.4 million so far.
Perhaps unexpectedly, the Biden campaign saw a bump in donations from Georgians on the day of his disastrous debate performance and afterward. On the day of the June 27 debate in Atlanta and the three days that followed, Biden collected more than Trump — receiving over $242,000 in those four days compared with the $158,000 Georgia donors gave to the Republican. During that period, Biden saw his monthly fundraising total in the state increase by 57%.
Paul Reavis from Athens contributed over $1,000 to Biden’s campaign in June before the debate, but said he still supported the president’s candidacy after seeing his debate performance. He said he plans to donate to Harris now that she may be the nominee.
“I have to admit I feel a little relieved that he has stepped back and that we’ve got Kamala coming,” Reavis said. “I’m glad to have the narrative change. I was getting really tired of this two-old-guys narrative.”
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