And the winner is... Monk Elmer

What does Monk Elmer, a first time Democratic candidate running against a 32 year Republican incumbent in a state senate district in Wisconsin, have to do with ActBlue's landmark $100 Million fundraising milestone?

According to our records, it was a donation to Monk Elmer's campaign that pushed us past $100 million! A physician, Elmer just launched his campaign (and has raised over $1,000 on ActBlue). He was recently profiled by his local WI paper, the Post-Crescent where you can learn more information about his background, issues, and how he got the name "Monk".

It's not entirely surprising that such a landmark contribution comes from one of of the many state district level candidates that use ActBlue. In fact, it's candidates like Dr. Elmer which are why we work so hard to democratize fundraising and offer online fundraising tools to support thousands of Democratic campaigns. 

Congratulations Monk Elmer- this graphic is all yours.

$100 Million Dollars! $100 Miiiiillion!

When ActBlue was founded in the summer of 2004, it felt like the guy to the right was sneering at Democrats as he roamed around America, raising millions upon millions of dollars from big monied interests for his Republican Party friends. He probably laughed at ActBlue and the thought of Democrats challenging the way money was raised in politics.

It took time but we've done it. 

$1 million raised by February of 2005. 
$10 million by September of 2006.
$20 million by March of 2007.
$50 million by June of 2008.

And as of today, that last milestone has been doubled.

$100 Million has now been raised through ActBlue. Take that Dr. Evil!

It's thanks to our thousands of Democratic candidates, tens of thousands of grassroots fundraising pages, hundreds of thousands of donors, and millions of contributions from people like you that ActBlue has proved Republicans wrong.

And that's pretty groovy.

So Here's To You, Edward Kennedy

For more than forty years, everyone who works in Massachusetts politics has done so in the shadow of  Senator Edward Kennedy and his passing will do little to change that. ActBlue in particular owes him a profound debt of gratitude. When many in the Democratic Party had yet to see the potential of ActBlue, Senator Kennedy offered us his support and became an early champion of our goals.

We were proud to call him our senator and humbled to have his blessing. Today, we celebrate his accomplishments and mourn his loss with the rest of the country.

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