South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced in a statement that his presidential campaign raised more than $24.7 million in the fourth quarter early Wednesday morning. The total exceeds the $19.2 million he raised in the last three-month period.
The presidential hopeful’s press secretary, Chris Meagher, said the campaign received more than 2 million donations from more than 733,000 individuals in 2019, bringing the total of his fundraising efforts to more than $76 million for the entire year.
Noting enthusiasm for the mayor’s campaign, Meagher said, “It’s clear the American people are responding to Pete’s message of rallying our country together around bold solutions that will build the coalition we need to beat Trump and usher in a new era the day after Trump leaves office.”
The statement also reported that the majority of contributions made to Pete for America were less than $200. The average donation was $38.
The bump in fundraising comes as Buttigieg has established himself as a front-runner in the race for the Democratic nomination. Currently, the mayor is at the top of the polls in Iowa, squeezing out a narrow lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Democratic candidates have been relatively transparent about their fundraising numbers for the end of the quarter.
Warren released a statement in late December in an effort to urge supporters to give to her campaign. The Massachusetts senator noted that she had raised $17 million, a “good chunk” behind what her campaign had raised last quarter.
The senator has yet to release her fourth-quarter totals since then.
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang also released his campaign’s fundraising totals for the fourth quarter. The businessman raised more than $4 million in the last week of December.
CNN reported that Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) campaign manager tweeted that the Democrat would have the best fundraising quarter yet by the year’s end, surpassing his fundraising high of $6 million.