Democrats see fundraising spike following Ginsburg death

Democrats saw a massive fundraising spike in the hours following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a jurist who had been lionized by progressives over her liberal stances on the high court.

ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s online donation platform, broke a single-hour fundraising record on Friday night when donors flooded it with $6.3 million in donations. In total, between the hours of 9 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday, the platform had processed nearly $31 million, ActBlue confirmed to The Hill.

The tally kept on the platform’s homepage continues to rise by the second.

Donations processed through ActBlue can go to several Democratic candidates for office up and down the ballot as well as a slate of liberal groups.

WinRed, ActBlue’s GOP equivalent, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill regarding any fundraising it’s seen since Ginsburg’s death.

Ginsburg, 87, died Friday due to complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. She was just the second woman nominated to the Supreme Court and served on the high court for 27 years.

Her death is expected to spark a fiercely partisan fight over whether the Senate will confirm a replacement around the same time as the November elections.

Democrats have said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set a precedent in 2016 when he and Senate Republicans did not hold a confirmation hearing for Merrick Garland, then-President Obama’s pick to join the high court after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

Republicans argued at the time that it was improper to confirm a new justice in an election year, saying whoever won that year’s contest should make the appointment instead of Obama.

Still, McConnell and President Trump have both said they intend to work to confirm a new justice this year, arguing this year is different from 2016 because the same party holds both the Senate and the White House.

“Americans reelected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary. Once again, we will keep our promise,” McConnell said in a statement Friday. “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.” 

The partisan fight has the possibility of having repercussions beyond just confirming another Supreme Court justice, with Democrats saying there could be retaliation against the GOP if they take the Senate majority in the November elections.

“Mitch McConnell set the precedent. No Supreme Court vacancies filled in an election year. If he violates it, when Democrats control the Senate in the next Congress, we must abolish the filibuster and expand the Supreme Court,” tweeted Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a progressive who just fended off a primary challenge from the more mainstream Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.).

Mitch McConnell set the precedent. No Supreme Court vacancies filled in an election year. If he violates it, when Democrats control the Senate in the next Congress, we must abolish the filibuster and expand the Supreme Court.

— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) September 19, 2020