Former Vice President Joe Biden may be leading the Democrat polls, but Bernie Sanders has built a bigger warchest of campaign contributions. | Image: REUTERS/Mike Blake
It wasn’t just a good fourth quarter for Bernie Sanders. The Vermont Senator and progressive White House contender for the 2020 Democratic nomination announced a $34.5 million fundraising haul last quarter . But don’t call it a comeback.
He’s been winning the donor primary all along.
Bernie Sanders entered the fourth quarter with a total of $73,797,153 raised for his 2020 presidential campaign, and $33,734,560 in cash on hand as of Sept 30, 2019.
The $34 million dollar haul since Oct 1 brings his total to $108 million, of which he had already deployed $40 million as of the Sept 30 FEC filing.
That makes Sanders the leading Democrat by fundraising totals.
*Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and hedge fund manager Tom Steyer have the most sizable warchests if you count their personal wealth. They’ve already spent $200 million between them on ads alone , only to poll mid and low tier respectively.
Given how unfathomably wealthy Michael Bloomberg is, he could potentially outspend even President Donald Trump’s cash haul. Setting aside this election’s out of pocket spenders and counting donations only, Elizabeth Warren has raised the second most in the Democratic primary, followed by Pete Buttigieg.
Sen. Warren pulled in $60,049,476 as of Sept 30. She hasn’t released her fourth quarter tally yet, but told supporters in a Dec 27 email that her campaign had notched $17 million , and hoped a year end push could bring $20 million. That puts her 2020 campaign total between $77 million and $80 million.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg had a blowout fourth quarter along with Bernie Sanders, raising $24.7 million. Add that to his Sept 30 fundraising total of $50,936,509, and Buttigieg’s $75 million haul puts him in third place among Democrats.
While Joe Biden leads in the polls, Democrats aren’t putting their money where their mouth is. His donations picked up the pace last quarter, but the former vice president is still trailing far behind Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. The $22.7 million Biden raised in the fourth quarter brings his total 2020 haul to $59.4 million.
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Donald Trump is the only 2020 candidate to raise more than Bernie Sanders so far. His $43 million haul for the last three months of 2019 was his best quarter to date .
His campaign entered the new year with a staggering $102.7 million cash on hand .
The president has made good capital of the impeachment proceedings. Gallup polls showed the majority of Americans flip from supporting impeachment to opposing it between October and December.
A breakdown of 2020 donations by industry reveals a battle between the public and private sectors over control of the White House.
Excluding “Retired” and “Democratic/Liberal” Bernie Sanders’ top industries are “Education” and “Civil Servants/Public Officials.” Education is also Elizabeth Warren’s and Pete Buttigieg’s top industry (excluding “Retired”).
Leaving out “Retired” and “Republican/Conservative,” Donald Trump’s top industries are “Real Estate,” “Misc Business,” and “Misc Manufacturing & Distributing.”