Sanders campaign raised over $1 million on debate day

Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign announced it raised more than $1 million Thursday, the day of the final primary debate of the year. 

The campaign said in a statement the amount marked his best debate-day haul so far, with the funds coming from tens of thousands of contributions. 

“A lot of candidates on the debate stage last night worked hard to convince voters that our leaders must rely on super PACs funded by the wealthy and gather big checks in wine caves to beat Donald Trump in 2020,” said Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir. “Bernie Sanders is proving them wrong every single day.”

Sanders, a staunch progressive, has avoided wealthy donors and raked in $25 million in the year’s third quarter, solidifying his status as one of the primary field’s most effective fundraisers.

The campaign’s statement comes after a debate that saw fierce clashes over campaign finance transparency. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) excoriated South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg for holding a fundraiser in a wine cave in Napa, Calif.

“We made the decision many years ago that rich people in smoke-filled rooms would not pick the next president of the United States,” Warren said. “Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States.”

Buttigieg fired back, noting he was the only person who was not a millionaire or billionaire on the debate stage and that Warren had adopted similar fundraising tactics when she was running for the Senate. 

“This is the problem with issuing purity tests you cannot yourself pass. If I pledged to never be in the company of a progressive, Democratic donor, I couldn’t be up here,” he said.

The Sanders campaign expressed confidence that its decision to eschew high-dollar private fundraisers would help boost its candidate’s appeal among working-class voters.

“Working class Americans know Bernie is going to stand with them when he’s in the White House because he always has and they’re saying it loudly by pitching in a few dollars when they can,” said Shakir. 

“Refusing to take cash from billionaires and CEOs is a key reason why the senator will earn the trust of voters and generate the enthusiasm needed to win the nomination, sweep Donald Trump out of the White House and create a political revolution to transform our country.”