Warren raises more than $19 million in second quarter

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) raised more than $19 million in the past three months, a haul that puts her among the top Democratic fundraisers of the quarter and signals that her recent momentum has translated to new donors to her presidential campaign.

Warren collected a total of $19.1 million in the second quarter of 2018, her campaign told supporters in an email. That haul came from 384,000 individual donors and more than 683,000 contributions, with an average donation size of $28. 

More than 80 percent of Warren’s donors contributed for the first time in the second quarter, which spans April 1 through June 30.

{mosads}“To sum it up: We raised more money than any other 100% grassroots-funded campaign. That’s big,” Warren’s campaign manager Roger Lau wrote in the email. “You sent a message that Elizabeth’s vision for the future is worth fighting for. And you showed the rich and powerful that change is coming – sooner than they think.”

Warren will be able to spend the overwhelming majority of the campaign cash on her primary bid alone. Between her first- and second-quarter fundraising hauls, less than $100,000 is set aside for the general election, according to her campaign.

The fundraising total puts her in the top three among Democratic presidential candidates who have announced their second-quarter numbers. South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced raising $24.8 million in the past three months, while former Vice President Joe Biden has raked in $21.5 million since announcing his campaign in April.

The fundraising haul is a major win for Warren, who has placed perhaps the most significant restrictions on her own fundraising channels. She has, for instance, sworn off money from political action committees, and unlike several other candidates, does not hold high-dollar fundraisers. 

Her total also puts her ahead of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), her most significant challenger on the left. Sanders’s campaign said last week that it raised $18 million in the second quarter of the year, although it also transferred another $6 million from other accounts. 

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who has repeatedly polled among the top five Democratic presidential hopefuls, brought in less than $12 million in the second quarter of 2019, putting her well behind her top rivals in the money race. Still, she saw a strong finish to the quarter following her standout performance in the first round of primary debates last month.

Candidates have until July 15 to report their second-quarter fundraising totals to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), though some campaigns opt to announce their numbers publicly before the official filings become available.

Warren’s strong fundraising haul is the latest sign that her campaign has picked up much-needed momentum in recent months.

Despite being among the first Democrats to enter the presidential primary, she reported raising only about $6 million in the first three months of 2019. Warren also found herself dwindling in the single digits in early polls, prompting some to raise questions about her campaign’s long-term prospects.

But in recent months, Warren has seen a burst of momentum, driven in no small part by her regular flow of policy position rollouts and “I-have-a-plan” mantra. She was also bolstered late last month by a well-received performance in the first Democratic presidential debate.