ActBlue, the online fundraising platform that has powered small-dollar contributions to Democratic campaigns, brought in an enormous $420 million plus so far this year.
According to the organization, that total came from 3.3 million unique donors and was dispersed to almost 9,000 Democratic campaigns and organizations, with $246 million coming in the second quarter alone. ActBlue said that at this point in the 2018 cycle—during which Democrats flipped 40 seats in the House of Representatives—donors had contributed $249 million and throughout the whole cycle, there were 4.9 million unique donors. In the second quarter of 2017, a prior off year, there were 4,655,506 contributions compared to the 7,620,071 they’ve seen this quarter They’ve also worked with more than double the organizations and campaigns they had at this point in 2017 and donors have given more than three times as much to local groups and candidates compared to the 2018 cycle, the organization said. A spokesperson said that they don’t have complete breakdowns on down-ballot contributions compared to presidential ones.
“We’re seeing millions of donors, record-breaking totals every quarter, and a rapidly-growing small-dollar army that is ready to help Democrats take back everything from school boards to the White House next year,” ActBlue Executive Director Erin Hill said in a statement.
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And they’re going to need it.
President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, its joint fundraising committees, and the Republican National Committee raised $105 million in the second quarter of 2019, with Trump and his committees raising $54 million. While Trump himself has had success with small-dollar contributions, Republicans have been trying to play catchup with ActBlue, recently introducing an online fundraising platform called WinRed.
ActBlue, which was originally established in 2004, saw its usage soar in the 2016 election when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) employed a small-dollar strategy to the tune of more than $200 million.
The organization’s official filing with the Federal Election Commission will be on July 31.
