Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign raised more than $4 million Tuesday in the 12 hours after it was announced.
Sanders raised the money from almost 150,000 individual donors in all 50 states, the campaign said in a press release. The average donation amounted to $27, mirroring that of the 2016 campaign.
{mosads}The haul more than doubles Sen. Kamala Harris’s (D-Calif.) gains of $1.5 million in the first 24 hours after she announced her own presidential campaign. Harris had previously been the largest first-day fundraiser in the primary field.
Sanders entered what is already a crowded primary field, with at least 11 Democrats either already running or signaling they intend to do so.
The Vermont independent, who caucuses with Democrats in the Senate, automatically became one of the pack’s front-runners with his announcement. He gained national prominence after he electrified the progressive base in 2016 with his insurgent primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. Though he lost, Sanders still holds significant sway over many Democratic voters.
Though Sanders consistently ranks near the top of polls surveying support for Democratic candidates, election prognosticators are skeptical if he can recreate the enthusiasm he sparked in 2016. While he was the sole progressive in that contest, several primary candidates, including Harris and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) are angling their appeal toward more liberal voters in the 2020 cycle.