Bernie Sanders raises $18.2 million in first quarter for 2020 presidential campaign

Sen. Bernie Sanders raised $18.2 million from 525,000 donors in the first quarter for his 2020 presidential bid, the Sanders campaign said on Tuesday.

The campaign tapped 900,000 individual donations in the 41 days since Sanders announced his candidacy on Feb. 19, Campaign Manager Faiz Shakir said in a conference call with reporters,

"Supporters have shown up big time for this campaign, huge, he would say," Shakir said, adding, "It took us 146 days to reach this number in 2016."

Sanders set an ambitious first-quarter fundraising goal, extolling his supporters to reach 1 million donations in the first six weeks of his 2020 presidential campaign. A tweet sent out late Sunday night hinted the Vermont independent would fall short of that goal.

"We thought inspiring our movement and building credibility with them was more critical, not whether we felt like coming up a little short might do a little damage to our own personal ego," Shakir said. "We felt good about the campaign and there’s no shying away from 900,000 donations, my goodness, I’m sure all the other campaigns would love to be in that posture."

► Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign raises record $6 million in first 24 hours

Small donations, young donors

The first quarter fundraising period ended on March 31. Candidates must file their financial reports with the Federal Election Commission by April 15.

Shakir broke down the fundraising number:

• 900,000 individual donations.

• The average donation was $20, compared to $27 in 2016.

• 88 percent of money came from people who have given $200 or less.

• 99.5 percent of donors gave $100 or less.

• 99.9 percent of donors can give again.

• 525,000 individual donors.

• 20 percent new donors.

• The majority of donors were under the age of 39.

The campaign started with $14 million in the bank before fundraising began, bringing the total to $32 million, Shakir said. Sanders had $28 million in cash at the end of the period, he said.

Why both dollars and donors matter

These numbers — the dollar total as well as the number of donors — matter because they are indications of a candidate's breadth and depth of support, as well as the financial viability of a campaign.

Raising money from a large number of small donors also means a campaign can continue to tap those same people throughout the campaign rather than relying entirely on new donors as the campaign progresses.

Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser to Sanders who was on the conference call, said he expects the campaign to have the resources to compete in all the primaries leading up to Super Tuesday on March 5.

Changes to the primary calendar in 2020 means that candidates will have to compete in more races leading up to Super Tuesday than in previous years.

"While in 2016 we had to make choices about where we could compete, I’m certain that in this race that some of our other opponents will have to make similar difficult choices," Weaver said. "This campaign will have the resources and volunteer strength to compete in every single state in the primary process."

How Sanders' fundraising compares

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg was the first among Democratic hopefuls to announce fundraising results, reporting Monday that the campaign took in more than $7 million since he announced his candidacy in January.

More: VT Insights: What it means that Beto O'Rourke beat Bernie Sanders' fundraising record

Later Monday, California Sen. Kamala Harris' campaign reported raising $12 million in the first quarter.

Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke also made headlines when he announced raising $6.1 million in the first 24 hours of his campaign, surpassing Sanders' $5.9 million total for the comparable period.

In the first week after his Feb. 19 announcement, Sanders raised more than $10 million from nearly 360,000 donors. That means that in the nearly five weeks since Feb. 26, the campaign has attracted more than 165,000 additional donors.

Aki Soga is insights and engagement editor for the Burlington Free Press. Email him at asoga@freepressmedia.com, or chat with him on Twitter: @asoga.

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This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Bernie Sanders raises $18.2 million in first quarter for 2020 presidential campaign