Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign announced Tuesday that it has raised $18.2 million from just under 900,000 individual donations since launching 41 days ago.
Sanders' first quarter haul tops all other 2020 Democratic candidates who have reported their fundraising totals. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) raised $12 million in the first quarter, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg raised $7 million.
Faiz Shakir, Sanders' campaign manager, said during a press call that 88 percent of the donations were $200 or less, and the average donation was $20.
The profession with the most donors to Sanders' campaign was teachers, according to Shakir.
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In total, 525,000 individuals donated to Sanders' campaign during the first quarter of 2019.
Real change always takes place from the bottom on up, not the top on down. We are building an unprecedented coalition to not only defeat Trump but transform the country into one that works for all people.
Thank you to all who are a part of this movement. Let's keep going. https://t.co/FATWexiL7Q— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 2, 2019
With $28 million on hand, the Sanders campaign is far ahead of where it was in 2016, Shakir said.
Nina Turner, an adviser to the Sanders campaign, said on the press call that "people power is just as important as the money," but the sheer number of small donations show the "energy and synergy this campaign is reflecting all over the country."
