Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign announced Thursday that it raised a staggering $25 million in the month of January alone, by far the biggest fundraising month of the senator’s campaign and a larger haul than his 2020 Democratic rivals posted in any full quarter of 2019.
The campaign said over 219,000 of the total 648,000 January donors were new, and the average donation was just over $18. Teacher was the most common profession of January donors and the most common employers were Amazon, Starbucks, Walmart, the United States Postal Service, and Target.
More than 99.9% of Sanders’ donors have not maxed out, meaning they can donate to the campaign again.
“Bernie’s multi-racial, multi-generational, people-driven movement for change is fueling 2020’s most aggressive campaign for president,” Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ campaign manager, said in a statement. “Working class Americans giving $18 at a time are putting our campaign in a strong position to compete in states all over the map.”
Following its massive January haul—announced just days ahead of the Feb. 11 New Hampshire primary—the Sanders campaign said it plans to boost staffing in Super Tuesday states and make a $5.5 million television and digital ad buy in 10 states: Texas, California, Arkansas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah.
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– Bernie’s campaigns is launching an aggressive TV and digital ad campaign in:- AR, CO, MA, MN, NC, SC, TN, and UT.
– We are expanding buys we already have up in Texas and California.
– We are growing our staff across the Super Tuesday states
— Joe Calvello (@the_vello) February 6, 2020
The major ad buy is a signal that the Sanders campaign intends to remain focused on its broader path to victory amid the ongoing chaos of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus, where the Vermont senator holds a 2,500 popular vote lead over Pete Buttigieg in a race that officially remains too close to call with 97% of precincts reporting.
“Our campaign is made up of hard-working staff, volunteers, and supporters who over and over again overcome adversity because we are led by a senator who’s spent his life doing what is hard and standing on the side of working Americans,” Sanders’ Iowa state director Misty Rebik wrote in a campaign memo sent to staff and reporters Wednesday.
“That is what makes our campaign not only uniquely positioned to defeat Donald Trump, but ready to take on every major power in this country, to build the largest multi-generational, multi-racial coalition ever,” Rebik wrote. “We are unstoppable.”