Donald Trump wasn’t the only one to get a fundraising boost off his New York hush money conviction — so did Joe Biden.
The president’s campaign had its single biggest day of online fundraising the day after Trump was convicted, according to a POLITICO analysis of federal campaign finance data. And as the money flowed in, his political operation also drew more new donors the day of the verdict than any day since Biden launched his campaign last year.
The surge is particularly notable because Trump seized upon his conviction for fundraising purposes — but Biden didn’t. The president and his campaign had resisted making political hay out of the trial prior to the verdict, and even afterward only slowly ramped up its attack on the “convicted felon.” And the campaign hasn’t touted his post-conviction online fundraising.
But data from ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform, shows a clear surge on May 30, the day the New York jury handed down the guilty verdict, and the day after. On those two days, the campaign brought in totals six times higher than Biden’s typical fundraising day. The boost for the incumbent, and a smaller one for down-ballot Democrats, made the day after Trump’s conviction the biggest overall fundraising day on ActBlue so far this cycle.
The total amount — $8.1 million for Biden’s campaign and two joint fundraising committees on May 31, per a campaign official — still pales in comparison to what Trump’s campaign said it raised in the aftermath of his conviction. The former president’s massive intake of donations helped him overtake Biden in cash on hand.
But the surge in financial support for Biden suggests the conviction was a wake-up call for many grassroots donors who have been holding back so far this cycle, and it’s a much-needed moment of fundraising energy for Biden’s campaign.
“Big moments, big energy, big emotions — plus competent digital fundraising — equals massive success. I think you saw that with the Biden team,” said Mike Nellis, CEO of Authentic, a Democratic digital fundraising agency.
The conviction may have awakened small-dollar Democratic donors who weren’t paying attention
As online fundraising has stalled this cycle after years of colossal growth, Democrats and Republicans are seeing diverging fundraising patterns.
Trump and Republicans have reaped massive fortunes off the former president’s previous legal developments. Democrats have long had a stronger online fundraising operation and similarly used to thrive off news cycle-driven fundraising. Events like the 2022 Dobbs decision, which eliminated the federal right to an abortion, drove donors to ActBlue at record rates.
That’s been far more muted this year. Biden and Democrats have not seen the same news cycle-driven fundraising, and when asked about the post-conviction bump, a Biden campaign official emphasized its focus on building a reliable donor base. The operation now has more than 250,000 recurring donors, the official said, and had its best month from recurring donors in May, raising $6.5 million.
The Trump verdict cut through for Democratic donors in a way that little else has this cycle.
Biden’s campaign and the joint fundraising committees Biden Victory Fund and Biden Action Fund brought in more than 69,000 ActBlue donations on May 30 and 114,000 donations the next day. A normal day last month brought in just over 14,000 donations.
Nearly 78,000 of those post-conviction donors gave for the first time this cycle, POLITICO’s analysis found.
And the surge surpassed Biden’s post-State of the Union address boost, which had previously been the campaign’s best online fundraising day.
Overall, May 31 was ActBlue’s best day so far this cycle, even rivaling some of the best single fundraising days around Dobbs. (The record-breaking fundraising around that decision was sustained over several weeks by discrete news events — the leak, the decision itself, and its aftermath — and is almost certainly far greater than the total amount of money prompted by Trump’s conviction.)
Trump blared his fundraising totals, while Biden tread lightly
Within minutes of the conviction, Trump’s campaign immediately sought to fundraise, deeming himself a “political prisoner” in a flood of emails and text messages to supporters.
Trump’s campaign said it had raised nearly $53 million in the 24 hours after the conviction, though that figure won’t be verifiable until next month. It blasted press releases touting its fundraising totals and continued to send appeal after appeal asking for more money tied to the verdict.
Biden’s campaign, by contrast, took a subtler approach. A post-conviction campaign fundraising email noted there was “only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office.” The campaign didn’t even mention the verdict until the next day — and only did so by noting the massive cash haul Trump’s campaign brought in and asked donors to chip in to help Biden fight back.
“His supporters are clearly fired up by his conviction. We need ours to be too,” one email said.
That kind of messaging was likely very effective, said Kenneth Pennington, partner at the Democratic digital firm Middle Seat.
“When people hear Trump is getting all this money from his donor base off of it, Democratic donors are automatically like, ‘OK, how do we counter that?’” Pennington said.
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