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Democrats poured $81m (\u00a362.6m) in donations into Vice-President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday. <\/p>\n
The surge in donations marks the largest 24-hour period of donations in presidential history with more than 888,000 donors making contributions of less than $200 in the day after Mr Biden stepped aside. <\/p>\n
\u201cGrassroots supporters are energized and excited to support her as the Democratic nominee,\u201d ActBlue, the progressive donation platform said on X. <\/p>\n
Donors who had pulled back their funding over concerns about Mr Biden\u2019s age say they now intend to resume their support for the party.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The party raised over $27.5m in the first five hours of Ms Harris\u2019 presidential campaign. That number nearly doubled by the end of the day. In 24 hours, the sum broke a presidential fundraising record. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The new funds mark a significant turn for the Democratic Party, which has seen support erode from major donors after Mr Biden\u2019s poor performance in June\u2019s presidential debate against Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Grassroots funding from small donors had also diminished, according to Biden campaign insiders cited in US media.<\/p>\n
But soon after Mr Biden\u2019s announcement to drop out of the race and his endorsement of Ms Harris\u2019 bid for the White House, Democrats went online to contribute at a startling pace.<\/p>\n
Win With Black Women, a group of Black women leaders, held a Zoom call with more than 44,000 participants on Sunday night to throw their support behind the vice-president.<\/p>\n
The group says it raised over $1.5m in three hours for her presidential campaign.<\/p>\n
Joe Cotchett, a San Francisco-based political fundraiser for the Democrats, told NBC News that donors \u201care now ready to dig into their pockets”.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s electability.<\/p>\n
Several high-profile political donors have also indicated their support for Ms Harris as the Democratic party nominee. <\/p>\n
Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, called the vice president “the right person at the right time”. <\/p>\n
“I wholeheartedly support Kamala Harris and her candidacy for President of the United States in our fight for democracy in November,” he said in a post on X.<\/p>\n
Another big name political donor, Alexander Soros, the son of philanthropist George Soros, said Ms Harris is “the best and most qualified candidate we have”. <\/p>\n
But others, like entrepreneur and investor Vinod Khosla, called for an open process at the convention and “not a coronation”.<\/p>\n
“The key still is who can best beat Trump above all other priorities,” he wrote on X. <\/p>\n
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, known to be a Democratic megadonor, previously told the New York Times Biden should step down as the Democratic party nominee. <\/p>\n
“Dem delegates need to pick a swing state winner,” he wrote on X on Sunday following Mr Biden’s announcement. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n