“Candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to be U.S. president began on Monday to reveal how much cash they were able to raise in the first quarter of the year – an early test of their ability to organize and build support,” Reuters reported on Monday.
“Pete Buttigieg, the South Bend, Indiana mayor who recently saw a bump in his standing in public opinion polls, announced on Monday morning that he raised $7 million in the first quarter.”
That $7 million from January to March 31 may not seem like much when stacked against Bernie Sanders’ and Beto O’Rourke’s hauls—each taking in $5.9 and $6.1 million, respectively, in a single-day period—but Buttigieg may very well be leagues ahead of other candidates who outpaced him in notoriety, such as Kirsten Gillibrand, New York’s junior senator, and perhaps even Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren.
But total amounts raised aren’t everything.
Because of the large number of candidates already amassed on the Democratic side, “the Democratic National Committee has said a candidate must have raised money from 65,000 different donors in order to qualify for the first debate to be held on June 26 and 27.”
April 15 marks the day that candidates must disclose their quarterly fundraising and spending numbers, per the Federal Election Commission.
