Biden's exit sparks $50M surge for Harris's campaign in hours

On Sunday, after announcing his decision not to seek a second term as president of the USA, Joe Biden declared his support for his vice-president Kamala Harris in the November elections. Almost immediately, donors started pledging money.

According to Bloomberg, the amount donated to ActBlue on July 21, the platform for raising funds for the Democrats' campaign, exceeded $50 million.

As of 9 PM - as reported by ActBlue - small donations had increased to over $46.7 million since the inauguration of vice-president Kamala Harris's presidential campaign. This is an increase of over $19 million compared to just two hours earlier - when it was reported that $27.5 million was raised - informed CNN journalist Pamela Brown on platform X.

"It is clear that Biden's decision to withdraw is unleashing a lot of financial support, which had been a problem in recent weeks," emphasizes Bloomberg.

"Serving as president has been the greatest honour of my life. And while my intention was to seek re-election, I believe that in the best interest of my party and the country, it is better to step down and focus solely on fulfilling the duties of the president until the end of my term," wrote Biden on Sunday, July 21.

The new Democratic candidate will be selected during the party's national convention.

In reaction to the US president's decision, the price of Bitcoin initially plunged by nearly 1.2%, only to recover within minutes and reach $66,400. Such fluctuations in the cryptocurrency's value were last observed exactly a week ago, during the Republican convention, when there was an unsuccessful attempt on Donald Trump's life.

ActBlue reports that since 2004, over $14 billion has been raised in total for the Democratic Party's campaigns.