In his first 24 hours as a presidential candidate, Beto O’ Rourke raised an incredible $6.1 million, his campaign reports. To put this into perspective, this is more than any other 2020 Democratic contender, including even the (still very impressive) $5.9 million raised by Bernie Sanders.
And remember: O’Rourke isn’t taking money from any PACs.
“I’m not planning to do large-dollar fundraisers,” O’Rourke told reporters in Iowa on Saturday evening. “Right now, we’re ruling out taking any PAC money or any lobbyist money ever. I have no large-dollar fundraisers planned and I don’t plan to do them.”
O’Rourke’s momentum isn’t
too surprising, given how many people mobilized for him when he attempted to topple Republican Sen. Ted Cruz last year. Though O’Rourke lost to Cruz, he broke a fundraising record even then.
For example, from Texas alone, the former representative brought in more than $30 million via online contributions between 2017 and 2018. The average donation? A humble $41.
Other states that gave him considerable donations were Illinois, Washington, New York, California, and Massachusetts. Many people expressed skepticism on whether or not O’Rourke’s popularity would translate well to the national stage: Would he get so many donations (and so much enthusiasm) outside of Texas?
At this point, not all Democratic candidates have released their first-day numbers. They aren’t obligated to release this financial information until the end of March. That’s when candidates must make their first disclosures to the FEC. Among those who have released information, however, the numbers are pretty impressive all around. For example, Sen. Kamala Harris of California brought in $1.5 million. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota brought in $1 million within 48 hours. Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts, brought in $300,000 during her first partial day, which was New Year’s Eve. This number comes via ActBlue, an online fundraising tool the senator (along with other Democrats) uses. Her campaign hasn’t released her complete information yet.
O’Rourke’s campaign is proud of his “grassroots” fundraising, and claims that he’s already received donations from all 50 states and all U.S. territories. A statement released by his campaign quoted O’Rourke as saying, “In just 24 hours, Americans across this country came together to prove that it is possible to run a true grassroots campaign for president—a campaign by all of us for all of us that answers not to the PACs, corporations, and special interests but to the people.”
In an increasingly crowded race for the nomination, O’Rourke’s numbers stand out.