- The third fundraising quarter of 2019 ended on September 30, and all 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have reported their third major fundraising hauls of the cycle.
- The 17 major Democrats running for president are fiercely competing for donations in order to rise to the front of the race in one of the most crowded fields in recent history.
- Out of the nine Democrats who have announced their third-quarter fundraising totals, Sen. Bernie Sanders leads the pack with $25.3 million followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren with $24.6 million and Mayor Pete Buttigieg with $19.1 million.
- On the GOP side, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee announced raising a combined $125 million for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign in the third quarter.
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The third fundraising quarter of 2019 ended on September 30, and 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have reported how much they’ve brought in.
There are currently 17 major Democrats in the 2020 primary field – and they’re fiercely competing for donations in order to rise to the front of the pack in one of the most crowded fields in recent history.
Almost all of the Democratic contenders have pledged to run grassroots campaigns, with many rejecting donations from corporate PACs, federal lobbyists, and fossil fuel companies.
Read more: Every Democrat running for president falls into 1 of these 5 groups based on who supports them
The Democratic National Committee raised the fundraising stakes even more by requiring 2020 Democrats to reach 3% in four national polls and secure 165,000 individual donations from donors in at least 20 states to qualify for the next round of Democratic primary debates in November.
Out of the 12 Democrats who have announced their third-quarter fundraising totals, Sen. Bernie Sanders leads the pack with $25.3 million followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren with $24.6 million and Mayor Pete Buttigieg with $19.1 million.
Notably, Sanders and Warren are the only two candidates who have completely sworn off not just PAC money but all private, high-dollar fundraisers and are completely relying on grassroots donations, speaking to the power of the digitally-driven small-dollar model.
One thing to note about fundraising strategies.
Warren & Sanders, who are not doing high $ fundraisers, combined raised ~$50 million in Q3.
Biden, Buttigieg & Harris, who are doing high $ fundraisers: three of them combined raised ~$46 million in Q3https://t.co/hK4Ps4Ze69
— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) October 4, 2019
On the GOP side, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee announced raising a combined $125 million for President Donald Trump's re-election campaign in the third quarter, blowing Democrats' fundraising out of the water.
Here are all the 2020 candidates who have announced their third-quarter fundraising and how much they've raised. This post will be updated as more 2020 candidates report their third-quarter fundraising.
Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio: $425,731
Source: Federal Election Commission
Read more about Tim Ryan's campaign.
Tom Steyer: $2 million
Steyer, a billionaire, is mostly self-financing his presidential bid and has poured millions of dollars into Facebook ads targeting early primary states, which helped him meet the polling and donor requirements to make the October and November DNC debates.
Source: New York Times
Read more about Tom Steyer's campaign.
Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado: $2.1 million
Source: CNN
Read more about Michael Bennet's campaign.
Gov: Steve Bullock of Montana: $2.3 million
Source: CNN
Read more about Steve Bullock's campaign.
Former Rep. John Delaney raised $2.4 million from donors and gave/lent his campaign an additional $9.4 million.
Source: Federal Election Commission
Read more about John Delaney's campaign.
Tulsi Gabbard: $3 million
Source: Federal Election Commission
Read more about Tulsi Gabbard's campaign.
Marianne Williamson: $3.1 million.
After appearing in the June and July Democratic debates, self-help author and speaker Marianne Williamson brought in $3.1 million in 2019's third quarter, twice as much as she brought in Q2.
Read more about Marianne Williamson's campaign.
Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro: $3.4 million
Source: Federal Election Commission
Read more about Julian Castro's campaign.
Beto O'Rourke: $4.5 million
Source: Axios
Read more about Beto O'Rourke's campaign.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota: $4.8 million
Klobuchar is positioning herself as a pragmatic and highly electable alternative to Biden for moderate voters unlikely to vote for Sanders or Warren. Klobuchar improved on her second-quarter fundraising by almost $1 million but has struggled considerably to stand out in Biden's shadow.
Source: Politico
Read more about Amy Klobuchar's campaign.
Sen. Cory Booker: $6 million
After warning that he needed to raise $1.7 million to stay in the race the week before the Q3 fundraising deadline, Booker got a huge surge of donations and improved on his second-quarter fundraising by $1.5 million.
Source:Politico
Read more about Cory Booker's campaign.
Andrew Yang: $10 million
Yang has experienced one of the most meteoric rises in the 2020 campaign and has also reported one of the hugest improvements on fundraising, also heavily relying on the grassroots, digital donor model.
His campaign announced bringing in $10 million in the third quarter, a $7.2 million increase over their second-quarter haul.
Source: Politico
Read more about Andrew Yang's campaign.
Sen. Kamala Harris: $11.6 million.
Harris saw her poll numbers take somewhat of a nosedive over the summer, but had relatively stable third-quarter fundraising, bringing in only about $200,000 less in the third quarter compared to the second.
Source: CNN
Read more about Kamala Harris' campaign.
Former Vice President Joe Biden: $15 million
Biden came into the race as the presumptive frontrunner but has recently struggled in the shadow of Warren's huge surge of support among Democratic primary voters.
His lead over Warren in Real Clear Politics' polling average has narrowed to just 2.2 percentage points, and his fundraising declined by $6.8 million between the second and third quarters, leaving him way behind Sanders and Warren.
Source: NBC News
Read more about Joe Biden's campaign.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg: $19.1 million
Right out of the gate, Buttigieg proved himself to be a highly talented fundraiser, winning over thousands of wealthy high-dollar and small-dollar donors alike. He brought in $19.1 million in Q3, a decline of almost $6 million compared to his massive Q2 haul of $24.9 million.
Sources: New York Times
Read more about Pete Buttigieg's campaign
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: $24.6 million
Warren is on track to beat Biden as the frontrunner in 2020 Democratic primary polls, and trounced the former Vice President's second-quarter fundraising by almost $10 million after trailing him by about $3 million in Q2.
Sources: Elizabeth Warren, Business Insider
Read more about Elizabeth Warren's campaign.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: $25.3 million
Despite not making marked improvements in Democratic primary polls, Sanders - who pioneered the grassroots fundraising model in his 2016 campaign - improved on his second-quarter fundraising by over $7 million and beat Biden's performance by $10 million.
Source: New York Times
Read more about Bernie Sanders' campaign.
President Donald Trump: $125 million
Unlike the Democrats, Trump has the big advantage of being the presumptive GOP nominee and having the Republican National Committee fundraise on his behalf.
The Trump campaign and the RNC reported raising a combined sum of $125 million in the third quarter and are heavily capitalizing on the ongoing impeachment inquiry into Trump, bringing in $13 million in just two days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the investigation.
Sources: Politico, Business Insider
Read more about Donald Trump's campaign.
Read more:
Trump is fundraising off of impeachment and has already raised millions
Why Bernie Sanders' supporters are the most interesting people in the 2020 election
3 big reasons Biden is no longer the definitive 2020 Democratic primary frontrunner
