ActBlue, the FEC-certified Democratic fundraising site, says its fundraising following the Friday death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has topped $100 million. The tally broke ActBlue’s previous records for single-day donations, dollars raised in one hour, and dollars raised in one day, the organization said.
Ginsburg died of cancer Friday at age 87.
“Amid the devastating loss of Justice Ginsburg, it is inspiring to see people taking action to honor her legacy,” ActBlue executive director Erin Hill said in a statement. The surge of small-dollar donations began shortly after Ginsburg’s death was announced Friday evening. Donors gave 1.5 million contributions for a total of $91.4 million between 8PM ET Friday and end-of-day Saturday, with a record $6.3 million in donations between 10PM and 11PM ET Friday alone.
As of Sunday morning, the total was more than $100 million, ActBlue tweeted.
Small-dollar donors have now given $100 million on ActBlue since 8 p.m. ET Friday, investing in candidates up and down the ballot and orgs on the front lines of the impending judicial confirmation fight. The grassroots is ready to fight to honor Justice Ginsburg’s legacy.
— ActBlue (@actblue) September 20, 2020
The organization was prepared for the crush of donations, Tacita Morway, ActBlue’s vice president of engineering and product said in a statement to The Verge, with the donations process working “seamlessly.” ActBlue’s systems are “specifically architected to handle massive spikes in traffic and adapt quickly to changes in demand,” Morway said, adding its teams “have been preparing to respond to historic traffic this election cycle because we know thousands of campaigns and organizations and millions of small-dollar donors are mobilizing like never before.”
President Trump has said he plans to nominate a woman to replace Ginsburg on the high court, and could make his announcement as early as this week.
