Biden, Democrats get fundraising boost during digital convention

Joe Biden and the Democratic Party got a big fundraising boost during this week’s digital convention as the former vice president and down ballot candidates head into the final sprint to the election.

The Biden campaign announced Friday that, along with its joint fundraising committees with the Democratic National Committee (DNC), it raised $70 million over the course of the week.

ActBlue, the online donation platform for Democratic campaigns and several liberal outside groups, also confirmed to The Hill that it processed $83.9 million during the four days of the convention, including over $27.2 million in donations on Thursday alone, the day Biden formally accepted the 2020 nomination. 

The Biden campaign will not receive all the funds processed through ActBlue, which is connected to hundreds of campaigns, super PACs and advocacy groups, though it is the biggest Democratic organization on the platform.

“We reimagined and reinvented our convention to reach, engage, and mobilize Americans everywhere while showcasing Joe Biden’s positive, hopeful, and bold vision for the country,” said Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign manager. “Our convention sent a resounding message to the millions of Americans who joined throughout the week: vote, vote, vote.” 

O’Malley Dillon added that the website IWillVote.com, which helps register people to vote and answers questions about the election, saw traffic spike during the convention. 

The fundraising bump comes after another lucrative week for the Biden campaign, which said it raised $48 million in the 48 hours after announcing Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as Biden’s running mate on Aug. 11. ActBlue has also averaged $19.5 million in donations per day since then, a nearly $11 million increase from its average daily haul prior to the announcement.

More than 122 million views of the four days of the convention were tallied on digital, broadcast and cable outlets. About 21.8 million people tuned in on TV for Biden’s Thursday acceptance speech, beating out the early numbers for other major speeches at the convention earlier in the week but marking a 21 percent drop from Hillary Clinton’s speech at the convention in 2016. 

It is still unclear if the digital nature of this week’s convention will hamper the bump in support presidential candidates typically receive.  

But the jump in fundraising will still help Biden and the DNC in their efforts to close the fundraising gap with President Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC). The difference between the two war chests has narrowed significantly, with Biden and the DNC ending July with $294 million cash on hand, compared with over $300 million for Trump and the RNC.