Democrats raised $500 million in Q1 from party's main fundraising platform

ActBlue, a donation website helping Democratic candidates raise small-dollar donations raised $568 million in the first quarter of the year, according to the organization. That's a 50% increase over what was raised in the same quarter during the last midterms in 2022.

The total included $391 million to federal candidates and $119 million for state and local candidates, the group said.

In addition to federal, state and local candidates, ActBlue is also used by other Democratic groups. About $58 million was raised for charities and civic organizations, according to the group.

ActBlue said it received 15 million total contributions, including 686,000 new donors, according to the group. The average donation through the platform was $38. ActBlue's announcement comes ahead of its official filing of their March fundraising details.

Politicians often tout small-dollar donors as evidence of grassroots support while also raising money from congressional leadership and corporate political action committees that take in larger donations.

The totals come as ActBlue is under investigation by congressional Republicans and the Justice Department over whether it is doing enough to prevent foreign donors from illegally giving to U.S. campaigns.

In a blog posted Tuesday morning, the group defended the security measures it has in place to prevent fraud and meet Federal Election Commission requirements.

"ActBlue's engineering team has built robust safeguards into every layer of the platform," Jason Wong, ActBlue vice president of engineering, writes. "We are committed to staying ahead of emerging threats and evolving our systems to protect the integrity of our infrastructure."