The Hill’s editor-in-chief, Bob Cusack, said Friday that Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) latest fundraising numbers show that the presidential contender isn’t going away anytime soon and is in the 2020 race for the long haul.
“This shows you the energy,” Cusack said in response to Sanders’s $34.5 million fundraising haul during the fourth quarter of 2019.
“He’s obviously going to do well,” he added. “Regardless, just like in 2016, he’s going to be going all the way to the convention.”
Cusack argued Sanders’s strong performance throughout the Democratic presidential primary has already made Democrats on Capitol Hill nervous that he will succeed in winning the party’s nomination.
“They’ll privately tell you, they’re nervous about Bernie Sanders winning the nomination but with that amount of money he is not going to be going away,” he said.
Sanders’s $34.5 million in campaign donations marks a significant increase from his previous third-quarter $25.3 million fundraising haul.
Sanders also managed to beat out his top rivals: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden raised $22.7 million in the fourth quarter, while Warren pulled in $21.2 million.
The Vermont senator has consistently polled at the top of most national polls. However, Sanders still lags behind Biden by a sizable margin.
A Economist/YouGov poll released on Wednesday showed Biden with 29 percent support compared to Sanders’s 19 percent, which marks a 10-point lead.
Warren, meanwhile, trails Sanders at 18 percent followed by former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg who had 8 percent.
—Tess Bonn
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