Elizabeth Warren raises $24.6 million in third quarter
October 4, 2019Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign said Friday that it raised $24.6 million in the third quarter and has $25.7 million cash on hand, further solidifying her rise to the top tier in the Democratic primary.
The haul bests the $19 million Warren raised last quarter but trails progressive rival Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose third-quarter total of $25.3 million is the biggest one so far from the Democratic presidential hopefuls. Despite neither candidate holding traditional high-dollar fundraisers, Warren and Sanders both significantly outraised former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg ($19.1 million), former Vice President Joe Biden ($15.2 million) and Sen. Kamala Harris ($11.6 million).
Warren’s team was alone among those campaigns to disclose its exact cash on hand. Harris’ campaign said it has nearly $10 million in the bank.
“Celebrate. Say ‘woo-hoo!’ (quietly, if you need to, depending on where you’re reading this),” Warren campaign manager Roger Lau wrote in an email to supporters Friday sharing the fundraising numbers. “Close your eyes and picture Wall Street bankers scowling into their catered breakfast."
Warren’s strong fundraising comes as she has risen to the top of many national early-state and national polls after a slow start, topping both Biden and Sanders in some recent surveys. The Warren campaign also recently announced a $10 million-plus TV and digital ad buy in the coming months in the four early primary and caucus states.
Lau wrote that Warren added over 300,000 new donors in the third quarter, bringing her total to about 750,000 donors over the course of the campaign. Sanders' campaign said in September that it had accrued more than 1 million donors.
Warren and Sanders out-fundraising rivals — without holding traditional fundraisers — has disrupted the traditional presidential campaign model heading into 2020 and defied expectations of many political strategists. Rivals have fumed that both Warren and Sanders had the advantage of transferring unused millions from past election funds, when they did hold some fundraisers.
Still, both the progressive candidates have kept up their fundraising and outpaced opponents without holding high-dollar events.
"[S]he got to spend her time traveling across the country, hosting town halls, taking tens of thousands of selfies, and hearing directly from people about what’s on their minds — and people chipped in to help make it possible," Lau wrote.
Source: https://www.politico.com/