Elizabeth Warren Raises $21.2 Million In Fourth Quarter Of 2019

Sen. Elizabeth Warren raised $21.2 million in the final three months of 2019, her Democratic presidential campaign reported Friday.

Warren’s haul was substantially behind the massive $34.5 million reported by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) over the same period. It also trailed the $22.7 million raised by former Vice President Joe Biden and the $24.7 million collected by former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg .

None of the leading candidates revealed how much cash their campaigns have on hand.

Warren spent much of the early part of the fourth quarter under attack from rival candidates, with Buttigieg and Biden both aiming their rhetorical fire at the Massachusetts Democrat. She slipped from directly challenging Biden for the lead in national polling, but remains competitive in the key early states of Iowa and New Hampshire. 

With days left in the fundraising quarter, Warren staffers warned she was unlikely to match her peak haul of $24.6 million in the third quarter and set a public goal of raising $20 million more by the end of the year. With the help of $1.5 million raised on New Year’s Eve the campaign’s best single fundraising day to date they surpassed the goal.

Warren, like Sanders, has not held traditional high-dollar fundraisers to support her presidential bid and instead relies on mostly small online donations. The average contribution to Warren’s campaign was $23, compared with $18 for Sanders and $33 for Buttigieg, who has sparred with Warren and Sanders over his efforts to woo wealthy donors.

“Elizabeth didn’t host any private events to raise money from wealthy donors behind closed doors,” Warren campaign manager Roger Lau wrote in an email to supporters announcing her fundraising. “She didn’t take any money from Washington lobbyists or PACs. And we still hit our goal. That’s because grassroots donors are building a grassroots movement to change the way campaigns are funded. And that’s a big part of how we’ll change who government works for.”

Among second-tier candidates, entrepreneur Andrew Yang’s campaign announced he raised $17.5 million in the final three months of the year.

Republican President Donald Trump said his campaign raised $46 million during the fourth quarter.