Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) raised over $750,000 for congressional and local candidates running in Tuesday’s primaries, underscoring how he’s retained his financial prowess even after leaving the presidential race.
Sanders’s team, which also texted information to more than 120,000 supporters, raised money for several candidates in New York and Kentucky, including a pair of high-profile insurgents, Jamaal Bowman in New York and state Rep. Charles Booker (D) in Kentucky.
Bowman is waging a stiff primary challenge to Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), a 16-term incumbent, and Booker is running for the Democratic nomination in the Kentucky Senate race against Amy McGrath, a favorite of the party establishment. Both have seen a surge in momentum in recent weeks.
Donations also flowed to Mondaire Jones, who is running for the open seat in New York’s 17th Congressional District; Samelys López, who is running in New York’s open 15th Congressional District; and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), among others.
“The senator has said his campaign was about building a movement — not just electing a president,” Misty Rebik, executive director of Friends of Bernie Sanders, said in a press release. “He’s using the power he’s built to lift up candidates who are running on the bold agenda working families in our country so desperately need.”
The haul indicates that Sanders’s donor network and email list are still potent forces in down-ballot races despite his unsuccessful White House bid. The fundraising efforts also shine a light on how Sanders seeks to buoy a progressive movement that has seen few successes in down-ballot races this year.
Liberals rejoiced when Marie Newman, a progressive challenger in Illinois, unseated Rep. Daniel Lipinski (Ill.) in a primary earlier this year, though progressives also lost in other high-profile primaries against Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) and failed to secure one of their own as the Democratic White House nominee.
Of all the nonincumbents supported by Sanders’s team, Bowman and Booker have garnered the most attention in recent weeks.
“Booker and Bowman are — forget about where they are on the spectrum — they’re good candidates,” Jonathan Tasini, a progressive strategist, told The Hill. “I think too often, the progressive movement is willing to wrap their arms around people who channel their anger at the establishment without understanding whether those people can actually run good races and are good candidates.”