Biden’s Exit Transformed Democratic Fund-Raising

When Vice President Kamala Harris became the party’s nominee, the money started to flow.

Share full article

President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 election led to a tectonic shift in the world of campaign fund-raising between Democrats and former President Donald J. Trump.

Joe Biden’s decision on July 21 to drop out of the presidential race unleashed a gusher of cash that fundamentally changed the money race between Democrats and former President Donald J. Trump.

Fund-raising reports released on Tuesday night revealed in stark terms just how much the presidential campaign had transformed. The Biden campaign and its joint fund-raising committees with the Democratic Party raised about $1.5 million a day on average in the first three weeks of July, according to reports filed by ActBlue, a Democratic fund-raising platform. That was about 25 percent less than the campaign was raising daily in the month of June.

After Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee, her committees raised an average of $16.6 million over the final 11 days of July, leading to a monster fund-raising haul of $310 million total for the month.

The new data shows how July was one of the most unusual months in American political fund-raising history. Before Mr. Biden’s exit, Democrats were struggling to raise significant money. Then, after he revealed his decision in a single post on social media on a Sunday afternoon, Democrats began raising money hand over fist.

The Harris and Trump campaigns had already announced their top-line fund-raising figures for July. Democrats entered August in a stronger position than Republicans did, with about $50 million more in cash on hand, after out-raising them more than two-to-one. A fuller picture of how much money Ms. Harris raised won’t be available until her joint fund-raising committees file reports with the Federal Election Commission later this year.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.