MANCHESTER, NH - Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders hauled in an eye-popping $25 million last month, his campaign announced early Thursday morning.
And the populist senator from Vermont who’s making his second straight White House bid will use his expanded war chest to increase his campaign staff and go up with ads in 10 of the 14 states that vote on March 3 on Super Tuesday.
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The massive haul further cements Sanders’ position as the clear leader in the race for campaign cash among the Democrats running for the White House.
For comparison – Sanders brought in more last month than any of his Democratic nomination rivals raised in the final three months of last year. Sanders received $34.5 million in the Oct.-Dec. fourth quarter of 2019 fundraising.
The Sanders campaign – spotlighting that Sanders’ fundraising is fueled by small dollar, “people driven,” grassroots contributions – said that the average donation was $18.
“Bernie’s multiracial, multigenerational, people-driven movement for change is fueling 2020’s most aggressive campaign for president,” campaign manager Faiz Shakir stressed.
The campaign reported that January’s haul came from $1.3 million donations from nearly 650,000 people, including over $219,000 new contributors
And the campaign touted that since the its launch a year ago, Sanders has raised more than $121 million from over 6.4 million individual donations with an average contribution of $18. More than 99.9 percent of donors have not maxed out and can give again. To date, over 1.5 million people have donated to the campaign.
Sanders is dipping into coffers to increase staff in the states holding contests on Super Tuesday. And they’ll spend $5.5 million to run ads on TV and digital in Arkansas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah – and to expand buys in California and Texas.
Presidential campaigns filed quarterly during 2019 – but when the calendar turned to 2020, Federal Election Commission mandates that candidates have until Jan. to report repot the their fundraising figures.