Biden campaign says it raised less in 2nd quarter than Buttigieg after a late start

Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign on Wednesday announced it raised $21.5 million during the second quarter of 2019, The New York Times reports.

This fundraising total is less than that of South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who announced earlier this week his campaign raised $24.8 million in the second quarter. Biden entered the 2020 race on April 25, though, a few weeks after the quarter's start, whereas Buttigieg announced his candidacy on April 14 and formed an exploratory committee in January. Still, the Times notes that Biden, unlike Buttigieg, "also had the advantage of beginning his campaign as a household name who had spent eight years as vice president and decades as a senator."

Biden did raise more than Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who announced earlier this week $18 million raised in the second quarter. The Biden campaign said that it raised this money from from 256,000 donors, compared to Buttigieg, who had announced about 294,000 donors, 230,000 of them new, in the quarter. Bloomberg reporter Jennifer Jacobs described this number of donors as "not bad for a candidate with an old email list, but not great considering that candidate has nearly universal name recognition and was the VP." Biden's campaign reported raising more per day than any 2020 Democrat, per The Hill.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Although numerous key 2020 candidates haven't announced their fundraising totals yet, BuzzFeed's Henry J. Gomez points out that now, "barring a major shocker," Buttigieg will likely end up leading the pack in fundraising.