Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign said Sunday that it raised more than USD 46.5 million in February, a show of financial strength after the Vermont senator finished a distant second behind Joe Biden in South Carolina’s primary.
Sanders’ team also announced that it was making television ad buys in nine more states: Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri and Washington, which vote on March 10, and Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio, which vote a week later. The campaign said it is “currently on the air in 12 out of the 14 states” that are voting on Super Tuesday, in two days.
“The senator’s multi-generational, multiracial working class coalition keeps fuelling his campaign for transformational change a few bucks at a time,” Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir said in a statement. He said that, of the more than 2 million donations received this month, more than 1.4 million were from voters in Super Tuesday states.
The eye-popping haul follows an already impressive January that raised more than 25 million. Sanders’ campaign immediately said it would use the January funds to purchase USD 5.5 million in television and digital advertising in 10 Super Tuesday states.
That investment could still be paying off at a time when some rivals in a Democratic field that remains crowded may struggle to raise money after disappointing finishes in early states. Most other White House hopefuls haven’t yet released updated fundraising totals, but Massachusetts Sen.
Elizabeth Warren announced Sunday that she collected USD 29 million in February — potentially softening the blow of her fifth-place finish in South Carolina.
Both she and Sanders continue to demonstrate the formidable power of attracting small, online donations nationwide and then can’t ask again without the intervention of an outside political group.