Yang raises $16.5 million in fourth quarter
January 2, 2020
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang announced he raised $16.5 million in the last quarter of 2019, a total that's expected to put him toward the upper half of the Democratic field.
His campaign said Thursday he has a cumulative 400,000 donors, with more than 1 million contributions. The campaign said his average donation was $30. The $16.5 million total marked Yang's strongest fundraising quarter to date.
“At every turn in this race, Andrew Yang continues to exceed expectations whether it’s in terms of grassroots fundraising, making the debates, early state polling, or the ability to draw big crowds,” Nick Ryan, his campaign chief, said in a statement. "What we have achieved together to date through the humanity first values of this campaign, now sets us up to compete through the early-state primaries, Super Tuesday, and beyond.”
The Yang campaign did not say how much cash it has on hand. His previous best quarter was just under $10 million during the third quarter of 2019.
His team also said he raised $1.3 million on New Year's Eve, the single best fundraising day of his campaign. His previous single-day record was $750,000, set on Nov. 30.
Yang's fundraising haul will likely be toward the top of the pack, trailing just the four candidates who have led in polling either nationally or in the early states: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Sanders announced Thursday that he raised $34.5 million in the fourth quarter — the largest haul of any quarter for any Democratic hopeful this cycle — and Buttigieg announced he raised $24.7 million on Wednesday, the first candidate to give a fundraising total. Both Biden and Warren have signaled they've raised more than $16.5 million but have not yet released any details.
A spokesperson for Tulsi Gabbard told POLITICO on Wednesday that she raised $3.4 million.
Sanders, Buttigieg and Gabbard did not say how much money they have in the bank.
Unlike the expected fundraising leaders, Yang has not yet qualified for the next Democratic primary debate, which will be held on Jan. 14.
Biden, Buttigieg, Sanders, Warren, and Amy Klobuchar have all qualified for the seventh debate, according to POLITICO's tracking of public polling and donor data. The forum will be hosted by CNN and The Des Moines Register.
The qualification window closes Jan. 10. Yang has easily surpassed the 225,000 individual donor threshold but has not hit the polling threshold: 5 percent in four polls approved by the Democratic National Committee or 7 percent in two early state polls.
Yang, in danger of missing the stage, has publicly called for the DNC to sponsor polling in the four states set to vote in February: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. The party has balked at the idea — it would be incredibly unusual for a party committee to sponsor a poll for public consumption — but there has not been a public poll out of any of the early states since mid-November.
Source: https://www.politico.com/
