Sanders campaign announces it contacted over 1 million Iowa voters

Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign on Friday announced it had contacted more than 1 million voters in the early voting state of Iowa since its February launch. 

“Pundits in the Beltway might not believe it, but Bernie Sanders’ campaign in Iowa is out-organizing the entire field, and this is all powered by the most grassroots volunteers and donors of any campaign in the country,” said Bernie 2020 Iowa state director Misty Rebik. 

“We’ve hit this mark faster than we expected, but we’re not slowing down — Sen. Sanders will hold 11 events in Iowa in the next four days and we’re launching 165 organizing events statewide in the next five days.” 

{mosads}The campaign said more than 25,000 Sanders organizers and volunteers contacted the voters via phone calls, texts, in-person canvassing and more than 1,300 organizing events. Sanders will visit the Hawkeye State again this weekend on a tour of six counties that voted for former President Obama in 2008 and 2012 but backed President Trump in 2016. 

Sanders also announced Thursday his campaign had hit a million unique donors.

Iowa holds the first nominating contest of the 2020 cycle and has the potential to either boost candidates’ momentum with a strong showing or dim their electoral prospects should they fall short of expectations.

Friday’s announcement comes as Sanders seeks to shore up support for his campaign amid surging poll numbers for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the primary field’s other leading progressive. Warren has leap-frogged Sanders in the Real Clear Politics polling index. 

Both candidates still trail former Vice President Joe Biden in most national and statewide polls, including in Iowa, though Biden’s lead has narrowed in recent weeks.