Democratic Candidates, Causes Rake in $300 Million in Small Dollar Donations after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Death
Democratic candidates and causes have been flooded with small contributions totaling more than $300 million since Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on September 18, according to ActBlue.
Liberal donors had already smashed the previous record for most dollars raised in a single day, dollars raised in one hour, and dollars raised in one day on ActBlue, a nonprofit online platform designed to help Democratic candidates and progressive nonprofits raise money, in the immediate wake of the 87-year-old justice’s death.
Donors gave $6.3 million in just one hour on September 18 and $70.6 million on September 19, the platform said. The previous daily record was nearly $42 million, while the previous hourly record was a little more than $4 million.
Additionally, Swing Left, a Democratic group focused on flipping control of the U.S. Senate to Democrats and shaping state legislative contests, directed $2 million in new donations to U.S. Senate races and more than $1 million to state legislative contests in the six days following Ginsburg’s death.
Most of those funds went toward efforts to flip seats in Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas and Iowa, CNN reported, though some money is being spent on helping Democratic challengers in historically red states including South Carolina, Alaska and Kansas.
The group’s co-executive director Catherine Vaughan said that while donations generally spike closer to Election Day, Ginsburg’s death “caused everyone to jolt to attention and really get involved.”
GiveGreen, a liberal fundraising effort of the LCV’s Victory Fund, also said it had collected more than four times the amount it raised during the 2016 election, raking in $37 million as of Monday morning.
Roughly $18 million of GiveGreen’s donations will go towards helping Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, while more than $12 million will be used on House and Senate campaigns.
The spike in donations come as Democrats are energized by their outrage over Republicans’ decision to move forward with confirming a replacement for Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court ahead of election day on November 3. President Trump on Saturday nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacancy.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) has said hearings to confirm Barrett will begin on October 12 and he hopes the nomination will be out of the committee by October 26.
