Sanders hauls in eye-popping $25 million in past three months

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Bernie Sanders hauls $25 million in campaign donations in the past three months

2020 Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders hauls in an eye-popping $25 million in the past three months. His third-quarter of fundraising was higher than his second.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders hauled in a whopping $25.3 million during the July-September third quarter of fundraising, his presidential campaign announced on Tuesday morning.

The massive fundraising figure is up more than $7 million from his second-quarter numbers.

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Pete Buttigieg’s campaign also reported early Tuesday morning that the South Bend, Indiana mayor raised $19.1 million the past three months. While impressive, the candidate’s fundraising haul is down from the $24.8 million he brought in during the second quarter, which was the highest among the record-setting field of Democratic White House hopefuls during the April-June quarter.

Sen. Kamala Harris announced raising $11.6 million over the past three months.

The California Democrat's third quarter figure is slightly behind the $11.8 million she brought in during the second quarter and the $12 million she hauled in during the January-March first quarter of fundraising.

Sen. Cory Booker also revealed his third-quarter fundraising figures on Tuesday.

The Democrat from New Jersey's presidential campaign said they raised more than $6 million in July-September period, their best quarter of fundraising to date.

President Trump’s re-election campaign reported on Tuesday that they and the Republican National Committee combined hauled in a massive $125 million in the third quarter. That’s up from their combined $105 million raised during the second quarter.

Unlike some of his rivals for the nomination – such as former Vice President Joe Biden, Buttigieg and Harris – Sanders eschews big donor fundraisers and instead relies solely on grassroots donations. The campaign announced it received 1.4 million donations the past three months.

Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir said in a statement that "Bernie is proud to be the only candidate running to defeat Donald Trump who is 100 percent funded by grassroots donations – both in the primary and in the general."

News of Sanders’ cash haul comes as the populist independent senator from Vermont has faded in many recent polls to third place behind Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who along with Sanders is the other progressive standard-bearer in the 2020 Democratic nomination race.

Shakir argued that “media elites and professional pundits have tried repeatedly to dismiss this campaign, and yet working-class Americans keep saying loudly and clearly that they want a political revolution."

The Sanders campaign announced that its average individual contribution was $19 and that more than 99.9 percent of contributors have not maxed out and are able to donate again to the campaign.

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The Buttigieg campaign highlighted that they’ve now raised more than $51 million since the beginning of the year. They said that 182,000 new people contributed to the campaign in the third quarter, bringing the total number of donors this year to 580,000. The campaign also reported that the average contribution the past three months was $32.

Buttigieg, a one-time long-shot for the nomination, soared in the spring to near top-tier status. While he's continued to haul in large amounts of campaign cash and build up a formidable team in the crucial early voting states, his poll numbers stagnated during the summer.

The Harris campaign, in reporting their fundraising figures, noted that they plan to double their organizing staff in Iowa and South Carolina - the first southern primary - in October and November.

Harris has seen her poll numbers deteriorate over the past two months, but campaign manager Juan Rodriguez pledged that "this is a campaign that is growing, expanding, and built to win this primary."

Booker's campaign said that a third of their campaign haul the past three months came during the last 10 days of September, after the candidate announced if he didn't bring in $1.7 million by end of the month, he'd likely drop his White House bid.

Booker's campaign said they'd use their new infusion of campaign cash to hire 40 more staff at headquarters and across the country and open more offices in the early voting states.

Tuesday was the first day campaigns could announce their third-quarter numbers, but they have until Oct. 15 to officially file their fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission.

Campaign cash is a crucial barometer of a candidate’s appeal and popularity and of his or her campaign’s strength. The third-quarter fundraising figures of the Democratic presidential candidates will be heavily analyzed and scrutinized. Fundraising dollars can be used by the candidates to pay for campaign staff and grassroots outreach efforts, travel, and ads.