With an average donation size of $18.53, the feat that Sen. Bernie Sanders pulled off in the fourth quarter of 2019 in terms of fundraising is quite impressive. At first, it looked like Mayor Pete Buttigieg would perhaps hold the top spot with his $24.7 million haul, but that amount pails in comparison to Bernie’s $34.5 million over the past three months. As far as cash on hand, Sanders is well-positioned heading into the Iowa Caucuses<\/a> next month. In total, Bernie brought in over $97 million in 2019 and still has $88 million remaining cash on hand.<\/p>\n
As it stands, Bernie’s the front runner in terms of the money race<\/a> and no other candidate, so far, has come close:<\/p>\n
Andrew Yang surprises with big numbers<\/h2>\n
Yang managed to haul in $16.5 million in the fourth quarter which continues to drive his campaign growth and demonstrate his fundraising prowess using social media and a stable of dedicated supporters. His campaign has continued to grow in terms of notoriety, but his poll numbers have remained stalled in the low single digits nationally and Iowa. However, with plenty of cash moving forward, Yang can afford to keep going into Iowa and beyond.<\/p>\n
The other fundraising winner? Donald Trump<\/h2>\n
The President has seen his fundraising for the 2020 campaign continue to grow, which is somewhat expected given his status as the incumbent with no serious competition in a Republican primary. Similar to 2011-2012, when President Obama and the DNC raised tens of millions of dollars while Republicans fought each other in a primary, President Trump is hauling in huge amounts for a war chest while Democrats must spend their resources fighting in a primary. The President will end the year with $102 million cash on hand with campaign manager Brad Parscale crediting the recent influx over December as a result of the House impeachment vote. It doesn’t go without noting, however, that Bernie Sanders’ 2019 total is not too far off from President Trump’s.<\/p>\n
What about Biden and Warren?<\/h2>\n
We have yet to hear from the campaigns of Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren, both of which were also slightly behind their competitors last quarter in terms of timeliness.<\/p>\n
Biden fell into some rough patches and generally has not proven to be a blockbuster fundraiser in 2019-2020. His numbers are acceptable, but by no means mindblowing when compared to other “front runners” historically. By cash on hand alone, Biden isn’t in the greatest position heading into Iowa.<\/p>\n
Warren has seen some big numbers over 2019, but her fundraising began to slow in the third quarter, some of which may be due to her shunning of high-dollar fundraisers where campaigns can collect millions of dollars in a single night. Instead, Warren has been relying on smaller individual donations which have tamped down her totals. However, as Bernie Sanders has demonstrated, with an average donation of just $18, some eyepopping totals can be amassed by tapping a deep bench of motivated long-time and first-time supporters which can outpace big-time fundraising events.<\/p>\n
We will update again when Biden and Warren release their numbers.<\/p>\n
Update<\/h2>\n
Former vice president Joe Biden has released<\/a> his numbers and while they’re an improvement over the third quarter, his campaign is still lagging behind expectations:<\/p>\n